Charlotte, NC — Governor Seeks to Block Streetcar

February 2013

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says he favors light rail construction for Charlotte but hints he will block state funds for an LRT extension if the city builds a streetcar line with local property tax revenues, The Charlotte Observer reports. Charlotte plans to extend the starter "Lynx" light rail northward from Uptown to the University of North Carolina-Charlotte campus.

A 1.5-mile Uptown streetcar project has federal funding but Mayor Anthony Foxx wants to extend it as part of an eventual 10-mile route. Controversy over the streetcar extension has sidetracked a capital funding plan for all city public works improvements.

Reportedly the governor said that if the streetcar project were to proceed as planned he would block funding for an extension of the city's light rail line. The extension of the starter streetcar line has been estimated to cost $119 million and would run from Johnson C. Smith University through uptown and past Presbyterian Hospital.