NC: CATS reveals transit plan updates — and there’s hope for a train to CLT airport

There’s hope for a portion of the Silver Line to move forward as Charlotte finalizes the plan it wants to put before legislators and voters.

The Charlotte Area Transit System can’t pay for everything currently included in its transit plan under the spending breakdown in the General Assembly’s hands, CATS leadership confirmed Wednesday. Some new options could still build a train to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, but much of the eastern leg of the Silver Line appears out of the question.

CATS’ presentation to the Metropolitan Transit Commission laid out four scenarios affordable under draft legislation for a sales tax referendum approved by Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and most Mecklenburg towns last year.

Most call for all or some of the Silver Line to be converted to bus rapid transit — running buses in dedicated lanes with traffic signal priority, elevated platforms and enhanced stations. Others stick to light rail but shorten the Silver Line with the hope that future funding could pay for extensions. The scenarios also include changes to the planned Blue Line extensions into Pineville and Ballantyne.

The presentation didn’t include announcements about any new stops along the planned Red Line.

CATS will now collect community feedback and plans to present the results in late spring or early summer, interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle told reporters after the meeting.

“All of those (options) are 100% better than what we have today. And so the question is, what does the community want?” he said.

Wednesday’s presentation provides more details for legislators and voters who will decide whether Charlotte and the rest of the region secures money to execute the plans. The bill caps spending on rail at 40% of the new sales tax revenue in an attempt to appease Republicans in Raleigh who favor a more roads-centric approach to transportation.

The General Assembly will decide whether the sales tax bill makes the ballot. Mecklenburg voters would still have to vote on the referendum.

Multiple options for Silver Line changes

The Silver Line’s original concept, released in 2016, ran from Belmont east to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, through uptown and into east Charlotte, eventually ending in Matthews.

The latest cost estimate for the eastern leg of the Silver Line is down, from $5.19 billion to $4.77 billion, according to Wednesday’s presentation. But the estimated cost for the airport leg rose from $2.07 billion to $2.13 billion.

CATS is placing the Red Line at the top of its priority list, which means the Silver Line plan has to change, Cagle told the MTC Wednesday.

• The first option laid out for the Silver Line trims it to only run from the airport to Bojangles Coliseum in east Charlotte. If more money becomes available in the future, it could be extended.
• A second option adds light rail from the airport to 11th Street, where it would meet the current Blue Line. But it converts the rest of the line, from the Gateway Station to Central Piedmont Community College’s Levine Campus, to bus rapid transit.
• The other two options presented convert the entire corridor, from Interstate 485 near the airport to CPCC Levine in Matthews, to bus rapid transit.

Matthews and some in east Charlotte made clear their displeasure when reports of budget-related changes surfaced last year.

Cagle told the Observer in December bus rapid transit is an increasingly popular option in the U.S. He told the MTC Wednesday that, at an estimated cost of $100 million per mile, bus rapid transit “is not a cheap solution” but is “less expensive than rail.”

Matthews Mayor John Higdon reiterated his opposition at Wednesday’s meeting, saying he doesn’t want the MTC to bungle a significant long-term investment.

“This is a 100-year decision,” he said.

Others on the MTC were more accepting of the options, saying they make the best of the fiscal reality.

“This ship has sailed,” Cornelius Mayor Woody Washam said.

Red Line remains intact

Every scenario laid out Wednesday fully funds the Red Line commuter rail from uptown to the Lake Norman area. The draft legislation agreed to by most local leaders included a pledge to prioritize the project to appease north Mecklenburg communities burned by past delays.

“We’ve been paying for a train for 27 years. We’re going to get a train,” said Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox, co-chair of the MTC.

Charlotte secured a long-awaited deal to purchase railroad tracks for the project last year, approving the purchase of 22 miles of rail corridor from Norfolk Southern for $74 million in September. City officials paid another $17 million for 1.6 acres along Graham Street near the Gateway Station, where the line will end in uptown.

The latest cost estimate for the Red Line, up from $770 million to $1.38 billion, includes the expense of reimbursing Charlotte for the purchases with sales tax revenue.

The Red Line, first proposed in 2008, will run from the Gateway Station to multiple north Mecklenburg towns and could be extended into Iredell County.

Though Wednesday’s presentation didn’t include any added or removed Red Line stops, CATS has been working since 2024 on potential changes.

What about the Blue Line, Gold Line extensions?

Every option presented Wednesday also fully funds westward and eastward extensions of the Gold Line streetcar, from French Street near Johnson C. Smith University to Rosa Parks Place near north of Interstate 85 and the Wilson Heights neighborhood and from Sunnyside Avenue in Plaza Midwood to the Eastland area. The combined cost would be $845 million.

The future is less certain for plans to extend the Blue Line light rail.

The scenarios that keep all or some of the Silver Line as light rail require the Blue Line to only be extended to Pineville, with the hope more money will become available in the future to pay for a Ballantyne extension. Converting the entire Silver Line to bus rapid transit would make both Blue Line extensions feasible, according to the presentation.

The MTC could save additional money by converting both Blue Line extensions to bus rapid transit, one of the options laid out.

What about the funding?

Wednesday’s presentation was predicated the General Assembly approving legislation and voters passing the referendum, which would generate tens of billions in new tax revenue and unlock federal funding over the next 30 years.

Republican state Sen. Vickie Sawyer, who co-chairs the Senate transportation committee, said last week she thinks Mecklenburg’s transit funding bill has a “50-50” chance of passing in time to make the November 2025 ballot.

Sawyer credited local leadership with doing “the best job they possibly can” so far advocating for the bill but said increasing taxes remains “a big hurdle” for some in the GOP caucus.

The Republican also acknowledged Charlotte is pushing for swift action in the legislature. City Council member Malcolm Graham said in December the legislature needs to move in the first quarter of 2025 to allow time for clearing other procedural requirements and putting together an effective campaign for the referendum.

“I’m hearing from the city that they really need it fast. But we are the North Carolina state legislature. We do things very, very slow. So, we’ll figure it out,” Sawyer said of the timeline.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said after Wednesday’s meeting the city would need to figure out how to market the sales tax increase to voters but she’s optimistic about its chances and securing federal dollars.

“I’m not worried about that as much as I really believe that if we have the right product, that people will support it,” she said.

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