CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) got the green light for the planned LYNX Silver Line in April 2021 but after taking a closer look, engineers are going back to the drawing board.
The agency is looking at changing two major parts of the Silver Line after running into technical problems with planning. The first change would be where the train stops near Bojangles Coliseum. The second is where the line will go through Uptown.
The new train system will be 29-miles long from Belmont to Union County.
Phase A of construction will start at the future Charlotte Gateway Station in Uptown and extend to Matthews.
Phase B will extend to I-485 in west Mecklenburg County.
Now, CATS is looking at rerouting the Silver Line to align with either the Blue Line or Gold Line to potentially save space and money.
Senior project Manager Andy Mock explained that the train systems would alternate using the same tracks.
"It’s pretty common in downtowns where you’re really trying to seek and leverage existing infrastructure through a very tight area,” Mock said.
CATS is weighing three options.
The first is the existing Silver Line plan, which Mock said is the most expensive and does not connect directly to the Blue Line.
The second option is the "Shared Blue Line" proposal that would merge the Silver and Blue lines from center city to South End. However, it wouldn’t provide a direct ride to the west side of the Silver Line.
The third option is the "Shared Gold Line" proposal which would merge the Silver and Gold lines from Uptown to Plaza Midwood.
"It would require a reconfiguration of the Gold Line tracks and Trade Street to have that dedicated guideway, but we would retain access for vehicles on the outside," Mock said about the third option.
For the shared line proposals, Mock said gates that block cars on roads along the Blue and Gold lines would come down twice as often, which could worsen traffic back-ups.
A change of Silver Line plans is likely near the Bojangles Coliseum too — where CATS said the existing route blocks Television Place.
Instead, CATS is proposing to move the Silver Line so it crosses Briar Creek Road and the station would be behind Ovens Auditorium.
Councilman Edmund Driggs voiced concern Monday on how these proposed changes may impact surrounding projects.
“I wonder if it’s just late for us to be kind of potentially putting aside all the work we did,” Driggs said, referring to the original Silver Line plan.
CATS is giving its final recommendation for the changes on Jan. 9 and city council will take a vote later that month.
CATS is accepting public comment on the proposals through Nov. 30.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.