June 23. Josh Farnsworth describes the Red Line as “1970s-style” technology and argues that roads will always work better for our region. The facts on the ground and the wishes of North Mecklenburg residents say otherwise.

[Mecklenburg County’s transportation bill is expected to advance to the North Carolina Senate with a final procedural vote tomorrow. The bill calls for a referendum on a 1-cent roads and transit sales tax county-wide.]

Congestion keeps getting worse
INRIX’s 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard found that Charlotte drivers spent 41 lost hours in traffic last year, the 20th-worst delay in the entire country. clttoday.6amcity.com Now add growth: the Charlotte region is welcoming 117 new residents every single day, most of them arriving with a car. charlotteregion.com Pouring more traffic into the same lanes is a recipe for even longer trips and higher costs.

Commuter rail is modern, not obsolete
Cities across the country are expanding rail in 2025 because it moves large numbers of people quickly and reliably:

• Dallas–Fort Worth will open the 26-mile Silver Line in late 2025 – early 2026, giving riders a one-seat ride between Plano and DFW Airport. cor.net
• Phoenix just launched its 5.5-mile South Central light-rail extension on June 7, 2025, adding eight stations and frequent 12-minute service. masstransitmag.com
• Chicago secured a $1.9 billion federal grant in January 2025 to extend the CTA Red Line 5.5 miles to 130th Street, with groundbreaking expected next year. chicago.gov
• Miami-Dade County advanced the 13.5-mile Northeast Corridor commuter rail into FTA’s engineering phase in October 2024. miamidade.gov
• Austin is pushing ahead with Project Connect Light Rail Phase 1 under a multibillion-dollar design-build contract that starts construction in 2027. statesman.com

None of these regions are building rail for nostalgia. They are doing it because one track can carry as many people as two or three new freeway lanes, without the crashes or weather delays that bog down traffic.

North Mecklenburg leaders want the Red Line
Far from a “boondoggle,” the Red Line is a project that Cornelius, Huntersville, and Davidson have sought for more than two decades. When House Bill 948, the P.A.V.E. Act, was introduced in April, the managers of five of six Mecklenburg towns — including Cornelius, Huntersville, and Davidson — publicly praised the bill and its commitment to finishing the Red Line. corneliustoday.com Their residents are tired of burning time and money in I-77 backups and see the rail line as a cleaner, safer, and more reliable option.

Commuter trains are not relics from the past. They are the backbone of twenty-first-century transportation systems that give people a real choice, keep our economy moving, and protect the air we breathe.

Binns

With 41 hours already lost each year and 117 more drivers arriving every day, Mecklenburg County cannot pave its way out of gridlock. The Red Line is the forward-looking solution our growing communities have been asking for.

—Shannon Binns, executive director

Sustain Charlotte

Binns’ letter is in response to a letter from Josh Farnsworth, opposing the penny sales tax for transit.