Why Is Atlanta's Traffic So Bad? (Future Charlotte Development Thread) (Concord: schools, to live)
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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by afonega1
Atlanta is a HUGE area.Yes its true NC has several large metro's.So what?Atlanta metro is bigger than all of NC major 3 metro land wise and population.So although it may have one metro.The areas in which to choose from are quite extensive and diverse.Before the recession Atlanta had as many as 6 Counties in the top 20 for the fastest growing counties in the nation.
Bottom line is Charlotte is a city for people NOT looking for a major urban experience.Atlanta has that well over anything Charlotte can offer.Charlotte has NOTHING Atlanta cannot offer.
If I want to live in Uptown Charlotte Id choose Midtown Atlanta.If I want to live in a big house wit a big yard in Ballentyne I'd choose John's Creek,If I wanna live in Gastonia,i'd choose Douglasville.
Yet if I wanted to live near a rail station 30 miles from the center of Downtown Charlotte,I COULD NOT.
If I wanted eat a at a restaurant that has been ranked one of the best new or top restaurants in America
like Bacchanalia I could.In Charlotte?
If I wanted to be able to walk out of my apartment or house and immediately walk on a path behind my house that connects to parks and takes through all parts of the city,I could.Charlotte?NOT.
The subway in Atlanta takes me all over the city.From Buckhead to the airport.
Charlotte?No - there is no light rail from the airport to the center city. Your only two options are cab or bus.
If I wanted to a top 25 ranked college like Emory or Ga Tech.I could in Atlanta.Charlotte?
Actaully I could not do ANY of this anywhere in all of NC(accept you guys do have great universities in Raleigh.
.But hey...you guys have more than one big city to do less than in alll of Atlanta
in!!
You don't consider the rail station in Kannapolis a rail station?
Yet if I wanted to live near a rail station 30 miles from the center of Downtown Charlotte,I COULD NOT.
This is incorrect.
You could live in Cannon Village in Kannapolis. There is a NCDOT train station and 8 trains pass through there each day that terminate or originate in downtown Charlotte. It's an approximately 20-25 minute ride. These trains are part of the NCDOT route that connects the state cities together with daily train service. There is nothing like this in Georgia. Kannapolis Train Station
A one way walk up ticket cost $6.50 and one can use it as commuter rail.
Furthermore two of the trains, designated as the Carolinian, continue on to the NE. This route is currently being upgraded to high speed rail. It makes travel to DC and points further north very easy and convenient. When it's complete, the Charlotte to DC route will be the only high speed rail link in the SE.
Yeh he did.You put up false information and claimed it was fact.HE WON!
This is a pointless response from someone who claims to be here to discuss transit.
I have not put up incorrect information. I didn't wish to respond to it again because this was done back at the beginning of this topic which you apparently have not read. If you are really interested go read this topic before you jump in after reading just one post.
Don't mistake my decision not to respond to your claims as an indication that I agree with said claims. I have no interest in chamber of commerce posts about Atlanta. It serves no purpose here.
You could live in Cannon Village in Kannapolis. There is a NCDOT train station and 8 trains pass through there each day that terminate or originate in downtown Charlotte. It's an approximately 20-25 minute ride. These trains are part of the NCDOT route that connects the state cities together with daily train service. There is nothing like this in Georgia. Kannapolis Train Station
A one way walk up ticket cost $6.50 and one can use it as commuter rail.
Furthermore two of the trains, designated as the Carolinian, continue on to the NE. This route is currently being upgraded to high speed rail. It makes travel to DC and points further north very easy and convenient. When it's complete, the Charlotte to DC route will be the only high speed rail link in the SE.
Yes, it's no secret that NC is ahead of Georgia when it comes to regional rail. However, that poster was talking about the fact that a person could take a 20-plus mile intercity train ride from Atlanta's airport station to one of MARTA's northern stations. What that poster failed to mention was that Charlotteans can take a similar intercity train ride from Pineville to UNC Charlotte by the Spring of 2017 (only 4 years away).
At any rate, Atlanta (the much larger city) should be ahead when it comes to certain things, but it's not like Charlotte is sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. My only beef with Charlotte is that the focus of growth has been on "cheap cheap cheap" to the point that many well-paid single professionals are turned off by the lack of urban real estate. Urban real estate is here, but it is still far and few between for a metro of Charlotte's size. South End is doing great, but I'd like to see that same effort extend over to Noda, Plaza Midwood and pretty much all areas surrounding uptown. IMO, the entrance into uptown from all directions should be South End-like development. The rest of Charlotte can stay the same as far as I'm concerned.
Like I stated in a previous post, suburbia can't be stopped (so why even try to stop it). However, we as a metro can offer people more choices. In Charlotte's defense, I think the city might be on the verge of doing exactly what guys like me have been screaming for. There are nearly 3,000 units planned/under construction for uptown and South End. 3,000 urban units is similar to ten 25-story apartment buildings being built/planned all at once. Most of these units are affordable woodframe constructed buildings with less than 5 floors and an average of 200 units. To me, affordable shorter urban real estate is the perfect starting point for a market like Charlotte. IMO (though I LOVE the VUE) buildings like the Vue were a little pre-mature for this market.
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 02-21-2013 at 10:37 AM..
.... However, that poster was talking about the fact that a person could take a 20-plus mile intercity train ride from Atlanta's airport station to one of MARTA's northern stations.
Please don't correct my posts and I don't presume to attempt to read minds. I respond to what was posted. Everything I said is absolutely correct and relevant to the post that I was responding to.
As I have said earlier. Marta is considered one of the worse examples of urban heavy rail in the USA. It's ridership is extremely low for a heavy rail system that has been operating for decades and it is cited as one of the reasons the Federal government won't fund transit systems as they did with Marta. It's is a telling tale to the absolute lack of regional planning in that metro.
Marta is considered one of the worse examples of urban heavy rail in the USA.
That's only because most of MARTA was contructed during a bad time for TODs. Many stations (even today) drop passengers off at 1970s styled car oriented developments. Charlotte is lucky that LYNX is being planned/built with TODs in mind.
That's only because most of MARTA was contructed during a bad time for TODs. ......
This was already discussed. Please go back and re-read it. Marta's peers of the day were the DC Metro and Bart. They all stemmed from the same federal transit development program started in the late 60s.
Of the 3, Marta failed to live up to the promises made for it.
This was already discussed. Please go back and re-read it. Marta's peers of the day were the DC Metro and Bart. They all stemmed from the same federal transit development program started in the late 60s.
Of the 3, Marta failed to live up to the promises made for it.
Of the 3, Atlanta failed at creating a dense urban core that's on the level of DC and San Fran as well. Then again, Atlanta is BY FAR the more affordable city. With that said, I'd like to see Charlotte find a balance between Atlanta's affordability and DC's urban beauty. I think Charlotte can pull off such a thing with more focus on core growth rather than sprawl growth. For Charlotte, this city is still young so the time to focus on these issues is now; not later. The following shows what Charlotte is doing right:
^^^The message here is simple. If a city wants people to take the trains, then that city must plan future and current real estate developments near the train tracks. Putting jobs (uptown) near the tracks helps as well.
If Charlotte can complete the growth effort behind uptown and Southend, then repeat that same effort in other central areas of the city; then Charlotte would certainly be a "better" place. We would still have the sprawl issues, but many of our residents would have other choices.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,722,678 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by frewroad
This was already discussed. Please go back and re-read it. Marta's peers of the day were the DC Metro and Bart. They all stemmed from the same federal transit development program started in the late 60s.
Of the 3, Marta failed to live up to the promises made for it.
I'm not being "sensitive" at all. I just don't like it when false info is put out there (such as rail lines reaching 30 miles out from downtown Atlanta). Also, this thread is not about Charlotte "surpassing or catching up to Atlanta". This thread talks about Charlotte's development patterns. Simply put; it is a thread about borrowing what Atlanta has done right while trying to avoid what Atlanta has done wrong.
IMO, Charlotte needs to focus more on central city developments instead of worrying about providing side walks and street lights to the folks who chose to live in the woods of Steele Creek. I mean really? If you wanted a $720 per month 4 bedroom house in the lesser developed areas of the city, then you should expect and welcome the fewer "city" amenities that comes with it. But noooooooo, these people move out to the cheaper woods in droves, clog up rural roads from 7-9 am, then demand that the city/county build them a public park for their kids to go play on. Then when the budget numbers come in, the city/county realizes that they must raise taxes to help pay for the laundry list full of crap that these cheaper suburban areas of "Charlotte" have created. The catch is that the more expensive areas of central Charlotte (the real Charlotte) have much higher property values which means that central Charlotte gets hit with the tax bill much harder than these cheap suburban communities do.
What's even worse is that when developers (like the Tanger Outlet in southwest Charlotte) decide on a cheap suburban location to set up shop in, they want a tax break for investing in the area's infrastructure (which is just another secret tax on the more established areas of Charlotte). It's like the developers are the pimps and Charlotte is the 2am hooker that keeps on getting slapped around.
Come on now.Do you really think it was my purpose to lie about whether its 30 miles from Downtown when its LEAST 30 mile from the Airport to the furthest point north on MARTA?In fact I even stated that right after how if you wanted go from the airport to the far suburbs you could.
I was just defending statements that were blatant and biased against Atlanta.I have not said anything untrue unlike some other posters in this thread in regards to Charlotte.
I also agree that both Charlotte and Atlanta are BOTH developing smart growth techniques for years. but those that say Charlotte is doing more toward that type of growth only need to look Atlanta and stop kidding themselves about how to grow.You cannot say "we look at Atlanta on what not to do" when Atlanta for the last decade has been developing and densifying with things like Atlantic Station,and the BeltLine for years.
TOD's have been hapening in Atlanta since Lindbergh Station.
Things that have been the model for reversing SPRAWL better than ANY city in America that has similar patterns have made Atlanta become less synonymous with SPRAWL.
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It's like the developers are the pimps and Charlotte is the 2am hooker that keeps on getting slapped around.
