FTA Administrator Peter M. Rogoff visited the 9th Street Trolley Station in Charlotte, NC, Oct. 16 to present a federal Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) to the Charlotte Area Transit System for the LYNX Blue Line light rail extension. The agreement will provide 50 percent of project costs for the extension; it is the last major funding source needed to advance the project toward construction.

Also present at the event were CATS Chief Executive Officer Carolyn Flowers; Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx; Metropolitan Transit Commission Chair Harold Cogdell; and other state and local leaders.

The mayor called the FFGA “another step forward in developing a first-rate transportation system for the region that increases our competitiveness, attracts jobs, and enhances mobility for all of our citizens…. We are not done building our transit system, but this announcement is nothing less than a grand slam home run.”

The 9.3-mile CATS LYNX Blue Line Extension will run from 7th Street in Uptown Charlotte to the University of North Carolina Charlotte campus in the University area. It will incorporate 11 stations and four parking facilities with approximately 3,100 parking spaces.

“We are pleased that President Obama, [DOT] Secretary [Ray] LaHood, and Administrator Rogoff have provided the funding partnership to allow CATS to expand the state’s first light rail line connecting one end of the county to the other,” said Flowers. “Once completed in 2017, the LYNX Blue Line will provide the region with a congestion-free, consistent travel time from south Charlotte to northeast Charlotte.”

The $1.16 billion LYNX Blue Line Extension is the largest capital project in the city’s history. Fifty percent of funding comes from FTA; 25 percent from North Carolina DOT; and the rest from the local half-cent sales tax dedicated to public transit, including 2.7 percent from the city through in-kind right-of-way (ROW) and donated ROW from UNC Charlotte. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2013 with operational service expected in 2017.

Once completed, the LYNX Blue Line will provide almost 20 miles of cross-county travel in 47 minutes. Just like the initial segment of the Blue Line, the expansion is projected to generate additional private investment adjacent to rail stations.

FTA Administrator Peter M. Rogoff, at podium, speaks at the FFGA signing ceremony in Charlotte. The setting is the 9th Street Trolley Station, which will also serve the LYNX Blue Line when it opens in 2017.

 

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