Charlotte Gateway Station is a future
intermodal transit station in
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Currently operating as a
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
stop for the
CityLynx Gold Line
The CityLynx Gold Line is a streetcar line in Charlotte, North Carolina. A component of the Charlotte Area Transit System's Lynx rail system, it follows a primarily east-west path along Beatties Ford Road, Trade Street and Central Avenue through c ...
, it is the centerpiece of the overall Station District, and it will serve
Charlotte Area Transit System
The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Charlotte metropolitan area. CATS operates bus and rail transit services in Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas. Established in 1999, CATS' b ...
(CATS) bus lines, the
Lynx Silver Line
The LYNX Silver Line is a proposed east-west light rail line in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Silver Line would connect the outlying cities and towns of Belmont, Matthews, Stallings and Indian Trail to Uptown Charlotte and the Charlotte Dougla ...
light rail,
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
intercity trains and
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...
intercity buses. The district will also include parking facilities,
mixed-use development
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
and an
elevated greenway. Estimated at a cost of $800.1 million (2017 US dollars) for full implementation of all public and private components, the project will be built in three phases, with Amtrak service tentatively scheduled to start in 2025.
History
In 1991, the City of Charlotte and the
North Carolina Department of Transportation
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is responsible for building, repairing, and operating highways, bridges, and other modes of transportation, including ferries in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
History
The North Carolina ...
(NCDOT) completed a preliminary feasibility study for a new Uptown rail station to replace the existing
Amtrak station
This is a list of train stations and Thruway Motorcoach stops used by Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation in the United States). This list is in alphabetical order by station or stop name, which mostly corresponds to the city ...
, built in 1962 by the
Southern Railway and located on North Tryon Street near the rail yard for SOU's successor,
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...
. The site chosen along West Trade Street, currently a Greyhound station since 1973, was once the location of three previous stations: the Atlanta & Charlotte Depot (prior to 1886), the
Richmond and Danville Depot (1886-1905) and the
Southern Depot (1905-1962).
In 1998, NCDOT began the acquisition of property for the station and supportive land uses (i.e. retail and offices). In 2002, NCDOT completed its feasibility study for the Charlotte Multi-Modal Station and Area Track Improvements. The study identified two possible options: The Preferred Alternative, which included the station, various track work and a greenway at $206.8 million (2002 dollars), and the Station Build Only Alternative at $109.6 million (2002 dollars). By 2004, NCDOT had completed property acquisition of .
Announced publicly in August 2005, the proposed Gateway Station is envisioned to serve as both a multimodal transit center in addition to both office and retail space. As originally presented, the station would feature an underground station for CATS buses, a office building, and soaring lobby for other rail and bus services in the building's atrium.
In 2009, the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...
awarded $520 million grant for the Piedmont Improvement Project in North Carolina; which was used to make rail improvements identified in the 2002 feasibility study. In that same year, an
Environmental impact assessment
Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
was completed that resulted in a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and the City of Charlotte and NCDOT signed a municipal agreement.
[
In 2012, NCDOT completed property acquisition again of approximately for the Charlotte Gateway Station project. On November 1, 2012, NCDOT selected Houston-based developer, the Hines Group, for the project. In 2015, NCDOT won a $25 Million TIGER Grant, to help start construction of Gateway Station.
On August 30, 2021, the streetcar station was opened as part of the second phase of the CityLynx Gold Line.][
The station's ]inter-city
Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains.
There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...
tracks and platform were completed in November 2022.[ The first test run of a Piedmont train using the station occurred on November 29, 2022.][
]
Station plans
The station was built with a streetcar platform, which provides connection to the CityLynx Gold Line
The CityLynx Gold Line is a streetcar line in Charlotte, North Carolina. A component of the Charlotte Area Transit System's Lynx rail system, it follows a primarily east-west path along Beatties Ford Road, Trade Street and Central Avenue through c ...
, and a long, fully ADA
Ada may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Ada Foah, a town in Ghana
* Ada (Ghana parliament constituency)
* Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria
Asia
* Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tur ...
compliant high-level platform
Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are ...
, the second in the state behind Raleigh Union Station
Raleigh Union Station is an intermodal transit station in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Train service began the morning of July 10, 2018. Its main building serves as an Amtrak train station, while a future adjacent building will serve as ...
, for Amtrak service. It will be the southern terminus of Amtrak's '' Carolinian'' and ''Piedmont
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'' lines, as well as a service stop on Amtrak's ''Crescent
A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself.
In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
'' and a major stop on the planned Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor
The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from Washington, D.C. south through Richmond, Petersburg with a spur ...
. It will significantly improve connections between Amtrak and local transit; the current station is served by a single bus line. The station will also serve as a service stop for Greyhound routes running to Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. CATS also plans for the station to be a stop on the Lynx Silver Line
The LYNX Silver Line is a proposed east-west light rail line in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Silver Line would connect the outlying cities and towns of Belmont, Matthews, Stallings and Indian Trail to Uptown Charlotte and the Charlotte Dougla ...
.
Construction
Both the Charlotte Area Transit System
The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Charlotte metropolitan area. CATS operates bus and rail transit services in Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas. Established in 1999, CATS' b ...
(CATS) and NCDOT have started/completed various projects that impact the future station, including the CityLynx Gold Line
The CityLynx Gold Line is a streetcar line in Charlotte, North Carolina. A component of the Charlotte Area Transit System's Lynx rail system, it follows a primarily east-west path along Beatties Ford Road, Trade Street and Central Avenue through c ...
and a new Locomotive and Railcar Maintenance Facility located on West Summit Avenue. However, groundbreaking for the Charlotte Gateway Station did not begin until July 2018. The project is using a phased implementation approach to facilitate the near-term development of the rail station while also setting the stage for private development to occur. There are three general phases with additional sub-phases.[
]
Phase 1
At an estimate cost of $91.3 million (2017 dollars), the first phase has two parts:
* 1A) Construct 2,000 feet of track, structures, and signals to support two new station tracks; construct retaining wall/earthwork; construct temporary intercity bus facility (completed August, 2019).
* 1B) Construct rail platform and canopy for passenger loading/unloading.
Construction of Phase 1 was completed in November 2022.[
]
Phase 2
At an estimate cost of $49.9 million (2017 dollars), the second phase has two parts:
*2A) Construct platform canopy; construct station building (interim condition) with full construction of concourse level and core and shell only for plaza and mezzanine levels; construct temporary surface parking and passenger drop-off area.
*2B) Decommission existing Amtrak station on North Tryon Street.
This phase is partially funded with capital carryover from phase 1.
Phase 3
At an estimate cost of $658.9 million (2017 dollars), the third phase has three parts:
*3A) Construct greenway connection with bridge over Fourth Street, vertical circulation and retaining walls; construct bus facility, which includes structured parking and residential over retail wrapping garage (facility will serve as temporary parking for rail passengers till phase 3B is completed).
*3B) Complete upper section of station building; extend greenway with bridge over Trade Street, vertical circulation and retaining walls; extend greenway to Bank of America Stadium
Bank of America Stadium is a 74,867-seat football stadium located on in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is the home facility and headquarters of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League and Charlotte FC of Major ...
; construct private development around station.
*3C) Construct remote properties between Fifth and Seventh Streets; extend greenway to Ninth Street.
This phase is currently not funded, but is expected to be developed mostly by private developers.[
]
Station layout
As of December 2, 2022, the station consists of one island platform in the center of Trade Street, for Gold Line service, and it is located on what will become the front entrance of the intermodal station. A second, high-level island platform is located alongside Norfolk Southern's tracks for Amtrak service, which is not expected to begin before 2025.
References
External links
*
Gateway Station Home
{{Amtrak North Carolina stations
Charlotte Area Transit System stations
Lynx Gold Line stations
Future Amtrak stations in the United States
Railway stations in the United States opened in 2021
2021 establishments in North Carolina