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Can anyone provide some insight on the light rail line. I am thinking of moving to the Queens city but I would like to have access to the rail. Are there any really bad stations or neighborhoods next to them. I was told that Arrowhead is a bad stop on friday and Saturday nights.
I would def. stay away from the Archdale station. There's a lot of drug activity in the area and there's been a robbery at that station. It's next to one of the worst South CLT 'hoods, according to CMPD. The gas station near the Archdale stop was a drug haven, but CMPD is now doing a better job at keeping people from loitering behind it.
Any stops from Archdale to Arrowood, IMO, are iffy. The last stop on the south side seems relatively safe. It's at a busy shopping center and there's always people around.
I think you're safe at any of the ones closer to downtown.
IMO it was put in a bad spot. I wouldn't live close to it. To drive to it, you might as well just get on I-77 North. You will find it easier to just drive vs using it.
They chose a poor location for the rail. It's not convenient for most commuters and doesn't really save any time...the pols did get to spend lots of money though, which I guess was the real goal...
The light rail is horribly situated in my view. The only person I ever knew who swore by it was someone who was here on assignment and who was staying in a hotel next to the light rail that allowed her to ride it to Uptown for work every day. If you live in South Park like I do, or one of the many popular neighborhoods of Charlotte, the light rail is completely useless.
I do not agree that it is useless. First of all they really could not have chosen a different location financially speaking, since there was already a track and right-of-way on this line. There are nice apts and condos to live in all the way to the New Bern Station. Beyond that I agree that more development is needed and I believe it will come once the economy improves. From Scaleybark to 485, the line still functions well as a park&ride. In fact I parked at Scaleybark just today to go uptown (and I live by South Park). For one person, it's cheaper then parking.
The main reason the current location was likely chosen for the Light Rail is because it was built to help alleviate some of the congestion on I-77. The part of I-77 between 485 and Uptown is the busiest highway in the state and it's squeezed into only 6 lanes. Since it's too expensive to widen, the city figured getting people to use a light rail that paralleled the highway would help.
There are a few iffy areas near the light rail. Reamount road, and Archdale come to mind. However 90% of the areas are very safe, and the bad 'hoods are easy to spot and avoid. Even the bad places are very safe on the actual light rail line. You have to actually go back into those hoods to find trouble 99% of the time. Not to mention anything near the light rail is gentrifying rapidly.
I say go for it. Some of the best nabes in the city are directly on the light rail line IMO.
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