Augusta-Columbia CSA (Charleston, Greenville, Rock Hill: live, light rail, land)

[nortonguy]

I think both cities should form a CSA in the future. Both are growing and only 45 mins to a hour apart seperates them. West Columbia, Aiken, and North Augusta are all growing fast as well. The cities could attract more companies and developments. The population would be over 1.5 million people. Imagine if Augusta and Columbia had some rail in between them. Im sure Greenville, and Charleston would want to hook up with Columbia. And Savannah and Atlanta would link with Augusta. Cities would want to capatilize on that growth. We need to tell leaders in both cities to work more together. If Augusta and Columbia had a CSA. Im sure a water park could get built in lexington, or aiken county.

[elvislives]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

I think both cities should form a CSA in the future. Both are growing and only 45 mins to a hour apart seperates them. West Columbia, Aiken, and North Augusta are all growing fast as well. The cities could attract more companies and developments. The population would be over 1.5 million people. Imagine if Augusta and Columbia had some rail in between them. Im sure Greenville, and Charleston would want to hook up with Columbia. And Savannah and Atlanta would link with Augusta. Cities would want to capatilize on that growth. We need to tell leaders in both cities to work more together. If Augusta and Columbia had a CSA. Im sure a water park could get built in lexington, or aiken county.

Does enough people commute between Augusta and Columbia to warrant spending millions on a light rail? Me myself the best perk i see is it would go through my property and i was charge millions for the land .

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

I think both cities should form a CSA in the future. Both are growing and only 45 mins to a hour apart seperates them. West Columbia, Aiken, and North Augusta are all growing fast as well. The cities could attract more companies and developments. The population would be over 1.5 million people. Imagine if Augusta and Columbia had some rail in between them. Im sure Greenville, and Charleston would want to hook up with Columbia. And Savannah and Atlanta would link with Augusta. Cities would want to capatilize on that growth. We need to tell leaders in both cities to work more together. If Augusta and Columbia had a CSA. Im sure a water park could get built in lexington, or aiken county.

I think you would need to see Lexington, N. Augusta & Aiken all grow substantially more and expand their boundaries toward each other before you could get serious about this discussion. Downtown Augusta to downtown Columbia is about 75 miles, which is a little far to be combining metros. There are a lot bigger metros just as close or closer that are not combined into a CSA (Columbus & Dayton - 70 miles; Toledo & Detroit - 60 miles as 2 examples). I haven't met anyone who lives here that works in Augusta or vice versa. I would prefer Columbia to focus more on growing towards Rock Hill & Charlotte and possibly having some sort of rail between those cities.

[mettler]

This was in the headlines back during the Atlanta Olympic days. There was a lot of talk of a high speed rail between Columbia and Atlanta. I am not sure why it died though. But, I could see the argument for a high speed rail between Charlotte and Columbia raised during the discussions too. Maybe in ten years. I think Columbia needs to concentrate on the looming commute/traffic nightmare that is on the horizon if it hasn't already started to rise.

[Akhenaton06]

There is nothing but vast expanses of country in western Lexington/eastern Aiken counties, certainly not enough to justify a CSA. As someone else said, there is very little cross-commuting happening here. Furthermore, both areas need to focus on their own metropolitan areas. However, rail transit linking the major cities of the Carolinas and Georgia would certainly be a good thing.

[waccamatt]

Columbia and Augusta are nowhere near becoming part of a CSA. You don't just "decide" to be a CSA, the US Census Bureau has commuting guidelines that regulate whether multiple MSA's form a CSA. Sumter and Orangeburg are much more likely to become part of a Columbia CSA and quite honestly, why does it even matter?