State Representative Becky Carney recently organized and hosted the very first public listening session of Mecklenburg County state legislators. On Friday, April 24, County residents spoke directly to legislators about their needs and concerns. We took the opportunity to speak up for the future of Mecklenburg County's sustainable transportation network of light rail, commuter rail, buses, and infrastructure for safe, well-connected biking and walking. It was a fantastic opportunity to share our concerns with policymakers, so we hope to see many more listening and dialogue sessions in the future! 

Here's what our Education and Outreach Program Director Meg Fencil said:

At Monday evening's public comment period to Charlotte City Council on the University City Area Plan (UCAP), Sustain Charlotte announced that over 200 residents had signed our petition. The petition asks Council to approve the UCAP, but also add corrective rezoning to transit-oriented development (TOD) within 1/4 mile of Blue Line Extension (BLE) stations in University City.  We hand delivered our petition with 194 signatures to City Council, Mayor Clodfelter and the City Manager during the 7:00 meeting, but we were thrilled to see that the number of signatures exceeded 200 just before we addressed Council! For more background on the UCAP and our involvement in it, check out our recent blog post. 15 residents registered to speak on this issue. 

 Wil Russell addressed City Council to ask for transit-oriented development.

Wil Russell, a resident of University City and board member of Sustain Charlotte, urged City Council to adopt the University City Area Plan, but require transit-oriented development. He said, "Transit-oriented development will provide more opportunities to live and work near a mode of transit, which encourages ridership and sparks more economic development." Russell acknowledged that building a more walkable University City will not be easy, but needs to be done to improve quality of life and fully leverage our investment in the Blue Line Extension. He said, "The challenge that this Council should accept is to fight. Fight for the University City area and fight for transit-oriented development. Be willing to accept mixed use development, pedestrian-friendly infrastucture, more efficient land use and fewer surface parking lots, as we've seen in South End."

Russell urged Council to "fire up the engines of creativity to propel us to a vision of a safe, efficient, and vibrant land use plan." Watch his full testimony (begins at 50 minutes 01 seconds). You'll need to first scroll down and then click on the word 'video' for the April 13 meeting under 'Archived Meetings'. When the video window opens, grab the gray circle with your mouse/point and move it horizontally to 50 minutes 01 seconds.

It was a full agenda for the February 18 Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) meeting! Here's what your Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) members from Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Union County discussed:

I-485 South Lane Options

Louis Mitchell from NCDOT gave a report on the I-485 lane situation. A future managed lane project that will cover 16.6 miles from I-77 to US-74 is scheduled to begin in spring 2016. With completion of the widening project arriving 23 months ahead of schedule, there are three options for use of the newly completed lane: First, keep the lane for use as a shoulder. Second, open it as a High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane. Third, open it as a general purpose lane.

Under federal guidelines, a general purpose lane can not later be converted to a managed lane. This means that the second option preserves the ability to convert the HOV lane to a managed lane later, but the third option does not preserve that possibility.

At today's Transportation and Planning committee meeting of Charlotte City Council, staff from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning explained how the draft University City Area Plan has been updated to account for changes in the University City area associated with the LYNX Blue Line Extension and station locations.

In the sixth and final video in our Six Stories, One City transit series, banking professional Linda explains why she has chosen a car-free commute. Every weekday, Linda takes an express bus from her home in Cornelius north of Charlotte into the city.

Over 50 sustainability enthusiasts from throughout the Greater Charlotte area gathered at Triple C Brewing on Tuesday evening to network and celebrate the success of our Transportation Choices Alliance’s Sustainable Commute Challenge.

During the month-long challenge, over 100 photos were submitted by area residents who walked, biked, or rode transit to their daily destinations. As the photos were shared by contestants, they drew thousands of ‘Likes’ and hundreds of new followers to the TCA's Facebook page. The challenge also initiated dozens of conversations among sustainable commuters, many of whom had never met in person.

Susan Patterson (center), Knight Foundation's Charlotte Program Director, congratulated the winners and participants.

Transit provides mobility and independence for many residents of Greater Charlotte who are unable to drive. In the fourth video of our Six Stories, One City series, Christine explains how transit allows her to maintain an independent lifestyle despite her visual impairment. 

Charlotte residents, tomorrow November 4th is Election Day! As Charlotte's population continues to grow, it's critical that we not only maintain our existing infrastructure, but also improve our streets, trails, neighborhoods, and housing to meet the needs of current and future residents.

We hope you've heard about the three bonds that will be on your ballot tomorrow. If not, this post will help you understand the basics and where to find more information. Each bond will be presented separately, and we encourage you to vote 'Yes' for all of them. We're sharing the following information from the Vote Yes For City Bonds website to help you make an informed decision at the polls.

We sat down in the studio with news anchor Rob Boisvert a few weeks ago to discuss transportation in Charlotte and chat about MoveCharlotteSmarter.org--the official website for our Transportation Choices Alliance initiative.  

Population growth and sprawl aren't concerns only for large cities. As the Lake Norman region has seen an influx of new residents in recent decades, previously rural areas and small towns have had to adapt to manage growing traffic congestion, infrastructure demands, and environmental concerns.

Today we headed to Mooresville for the Lake Norman Land Use and Transportation Summit hosted by the Lake Norman Transportation Commission.

 Panelists represented the legislature, commerce, real estate, and transportation.