A Catalyst for Redevelopment

Transportation systems are helping to create more “livable” urban communities.

Transportation has always influenced land development patterns. In the U.S., the stagecoach and the “iron horse” gave rise to frontier towns that sprung up around stations, just as today’s interstate highway system spawned the suburbs.

Lately, cities have begun to look at their transportation systems as catalysts for redevelopment. In an inspired move, urban leaders are integrating land use with transportation in a way that speaks to livable communities.

Transit as a Driver
Public transportation proponents have long wondered what it would take to achieve broad-based acceptance—short of having fuel prices reach $7 per gallon. In North Carolina, where the first leg of the Charlotte Area Transit System’s fixed guideway system is nearing completion, the integration of public transit with the community’s development objectives is making it possible.

The first step toward acceptance, according to PBS&J Associate Vice President Mark Boggs, P.E., the firm’s project manager during planning, design, and right-of-way acquisition phases of program development, was linking Charlotte’s transit program to rock-solid land-use planning.

“The city was committed to making light rail and other modes of transit work from the outset, beginning with public buy-in,” Boggs says. “Then it linked transportation to its land development goals and objectives. That meant designing the areas around transit stations to provide incentives to developers.”

With its vision established, financing became the next hurdle. First, Charlotte passed a local half-cent sales tax to fund the transit program; then the state matched the city’s investment on the initial light rail project nearly dollar for dollar. In view of the resounding state and local commitment, the Federal Transit Administration pledged New Starts program funding for the initial project.

The final piece of the puzzle—the one most likely to make the transit-land use connection work—fell into place when Charlotte’s City Council earmarked $50 million for infrastructure development along the South Corridor Light Rail Project. Those capital dollars paid for land acquisition, miniparks, a new street grid, and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks to encourage the growth of walkable, transit-oriented communities around transit stations, and to sustain economic growth.

Combined with new zoning and development regulations that allow higher-density, mixed-use residential and commercial activity, these features should create an environment where both transit and community can flourish.

Note: The Charlotte Area Transit System and the Metropolitan Transit Commission are in the process of reevaluating the current plan to reflect findings of recent preliminary engineering and environmental analysis and to reestablish the timing of plan elements. For more information on the 2025 System Plan click here.

Looking Beyond the Pavement
When the city of Tampa, Florida, started planning for improvements to its 40th Street transportation corridor, activists were eager to make sure that their community didn’t lose its identity along the way. City leaders listened. Now, 40th Street is resulting in a “facelift” for the tired urban enclaves around it.

“Five distinct neighborhoods and commercial districts can be found along the reaches of 40th Street,” says Laurie Potier-Brown, RLA, AICP, PBS&J landscape architect and member of the project team. “The residents were concerned about the impact that the road project might have.”

To address those concerns, the city formed the 40th Street Task Force, a cadre of planners, transportation professionals, and citizens charged with looking “beyond the pavement” to find workable solutions for the road and the neighborhoods. “Even though this is a fairly short corridor [just over four miles],” says Potier-Brown, “land use varies widely—from residential at one end to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and the University of South Florida at the other.”

One answer might lie in a “form-based” planning code being developed by the Task Force for the 40th Street Corridor. The code will provide a blueprint for development by surveying what already exists and then creating standards to fit.

Community involvement has been crucial throughout the process. In two instances, high school students helped design a bridge crossing that mirrors the flavor of the locale, and area residents worked with the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority to determine the most appropriate locations and designs for bus stops along the corridor.

“When this project is complete, the city will have achieved much more than a new transportation corridor,” says Potier-Brown. “Cohesive, stabilized, and revitalized neighborhoods will also result.”

Planning for the Future
Planning is the operative word here. Officials are already interweaving the tenets of land use planning with transportation planning principles to achieve long-term mobility objectives. How those objectives are ultimately realized remains to be seen, but the implication is clear—the two are destined to be partners in the quest for livable communities.