Will North Meck get a train or more broken promises?

CHARLOTTE — Like most North Mecklenburg residents, Chris Wallace gets frustrated any time he has to go on Interstate 77.

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“I’ve lived my entire life in the northern part of the county and getting to Charlotte each time was always like, ‘Ugh, we have to deal with this,’” he said.

That’s why he says the proposed Red Line would be transformational. Charlotte purchased 22 miles of track from Norfolk Southern last year with the goal of launching commuter rail between Center City and Iredell County.

“You can pay a couple bucks, you don’t have to worry about parking, you don’t have to worry about toll lanes, you don’t have to worry about other drivers,” Wallace said. “It’s going to be a massive transformation.”

But the project has been planned and talked about for decades. It’s never come to fruition partly because of Norfolk Southern’s stubbornness to sell or share the tracks.

Even though Charlotte purchased the tracks, Huntersville resident Eric Rowell is still skeptical the project will happen.

“People look at this as a bait and switch,” he said. “I think there is a lack of trust with (the Charlotte Area Transit System) or the city of Charlotte.”

While state law requires 50% of the Red Line to be finished before starting another rail project, Rowell points out there is force majeure language that allows the new transit authority to pivot to a different rail project if the Red Line is determined to not be feasible.

“There’s clearly a lack of trust that North Meck will ever see any real benefits from this new additional one-cent tax on top of the half-cent we’ve been paying since 1998 with little, if nothing, to show for it,” he said.

The Red Line is supposed to go into Iredell County and end in Mount Mourne but so far, Iredell County hasn’t expressed an interest in that happening. As it stands now, the last stop in North Meck otherwise is Davidson. But the law says that can’t happen unless Davidson gives its blessing.

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