A local
firm is the apparent low bidder for a 1.96-mile extension of the Charlotte
vintage trolley line that is slated to be used by a future light rail system
connecting the uptown district to Pineville. Crowder Construction’s price is
$15.63 million, well below the $16.2 million budgeted for this part of the
project. Financing comes from several entities, including the city, the
convention center and the Charlotte Area Transit System. The money has also
been divided up among the various types of work to be done, with “trolley
construction” budgeted at nearly $6.9 million. However, Crowder’s bid in that
category came in at $8.5 million and, since no co-mingling of funding is
permitted, negotiations are being held to reduce that figure. “The funding does
not all come from one pot,” Crowder Construction’s executive vice president Bill
Crowder told the
Business Journal of Charlotte.
“And what we've got to figure out is what they've got to work with versus what
it would take for us to do the job.” Once the contract is approved by the City
Council, construction could start immediately and the line completed by
mid-2002. The heritage trolley now operates on about two miles of South
Boulevard using one restored car built for Charlotte in 1928 and powered by a
pushed/towed generator. The new track will run from Tremont Avenue to East
Ninth Street but will not include the small section that will run at grade right
through the main floor of the Charlotte Convention Center. That segment, to be
put out to bid later this spring, will not be elevated as desired by the
convention center authority because of the high cost.
