CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A quiet campaign to bring light rail to Pineville and Ballantyne has barreled its way into the next round of transit projects, upending conventional wisdom about the Mecklenburg County town and its neighboring corporate park.
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There still isn’t any money for any of the projects in the 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan, but moves toward a 5-mile extension of the existing Lynx Blue Line represent a dramatic turn for a town that, historically, has emphatically said “no” to mass transit.
It follows years of, first, antagonism and, later, indifference.
Ned Curran, chief executive emeritus at Northwood Office, Ballantyne Corporate Park’s owner, understands the significance of the shift better than most. He led the state transportation board during Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration and has been part of numerous roads and transit advisory committees and studies in Charlotte.
Curran described the unanticipated resurgence — the original Blue Line route would have terminated in Pineville — as a political breakthrough.
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And now, it could happen within a decade.
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