City of Charlotte’s preferred silver line route would skirt uptown (WSOC-TV)
The city of Charlotte is pushing for the LYNX Silver Line to skirt uptown rather than go through the heart of the center city and share tracks with the Blue and Gold Lines, while critics say the move prioritizes development over moving people.
The city is hoping it will spur development. But Sustain Charlotte Executive Director Shannon Binns says the city is making the wrong call.
“It comes down to why are we doing this,” he said. “What is the priority of the project?”
Sharing the tracks with the Blue or Gold Lines would be cheaper by hundreds of millions of dollars and could make it easier to get funding for the multi-billion dollar project. Binns also thinks more people will use the service this way and that should be the city’s goal
“We believe first and foremost (the goal) should be to move as many people as possible to the places they need to go, and right now, it doesn’t seem like the top priority for the city,” he said.