Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam
If you don't think Kieth Parker didn't play a hand in CATS light rail plans between 2000-2004 you're grossly mistaken.
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As chief operating officer and deputy director of CATS from 2000 to 2004, I know he did. Never-the-less, he wasn't around between 2004 and 2007, during the light rail construction.
Some Lynx history from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LYNX_Ra...ansit_Services
By March 1990, CATS only allotted $14 million for light rail development for the duration of the 1990s. Again, overall construction costs were cited in postponing the development of the system. Additionally, the Charlotte proposal at the time did not anticipate sufficient ridership of the system to acquire Federal Transit Administration grant money to develop the system. The $14 million would be used for both the purchasing of abandoned right-of-way as it became available for future light rail development as well as monies for studying a proposed line connecting the Wilgrove area in east Mecklenburg County with Tyvola Road south of Uptown Charlotte.
In 1998, Mecklenburg County voters approved a one-half cent sales tax to be utilized in the implementation of the 2025 Integrated Transit/Land-Use Plan, which include development of a light rail network. Once the tax was approved, the planning for the South Corridor to Pineville commenced.
Although light rail had been envisioned connecting Charlotte to Rock Hill in previous years, official planning for the corridor, later to become the Blue Line, would not commence until 1999. The line was to have initially been $225 million, 13.5-mile (21.73 km) route serving as a connection between Uptown Charlotte and Pineville along the Norfolk Southern rail line paralleling South Boulevard. In February 2000, the Metropolitan Transit Commission unanimously approved the corridor for the region's first light rail line, and by April, $8.2 million was allocated for the initial purchase of materials for its construction. By September, Parsons Transportation Group was hired by CATS to complete engineering and environmental studies for the corridor, and at this time costs estimates for the completed line increased to $331 million.
In July 2002, the overall costs for completing the line escalated to $371 million as a result of increasing land and construction costs. Additionally, the southern terminus for the line was moved approximately 1.5 miles (2.41 km) to the north along South Boulevard as a result of low projected ridership figures for the proposed downtown Pineville station, and primarily, as a result of the Mayor of Pineville, George Fowler, and the Pineville Town Council voting to not receive the line. By March 2004, costs of the line again were increased to $398.7 million and were again revised to $427 million by January 2005. The increased estimates were blamed on both rising land and construction costs. After numerous delays caused by increasing cost estimates, the official groundbreaking for the line occurred on February 26, 2005.
From $225 Million initially in 1999 to $427 Million by January 2005; a period of time Parker was involved with Lynx; the Lynx 10 mile light rail line costs escalated 190% in just 6 years. Not that great a job in estimating costs.