How to successfully sell light rail

Troy Russ, the designer of light rail for Charlotte, North Carolina frequently had phone calls from developers wanting to know where the stops would be located. Russ is a planner in Glatting Jackson which has designed rail lines in Charlotte, Pittsburgh and Orlando and stations in Denver.

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The biggest misconception about transit is it is the reason development happens. Observers shouldn't conclude light rail can breathe life into dormant places; something must be stirring first.

In Charlotte, investment primed neighborhoods around six train stops, the tally impressive just two years after the line opened in 2007. 6,000 residential units have been built or are proposed. 600,000 square feet of office space and 650,000 sq. ft. of retail have been built.

In Charlotte, a city with a metropolitan area of more than 1.7 million people, the neighborhoods around some train stops have had no growth.

A bad design can doom light rail. Russ points to Buffalo, N.Y. When light rail was put there 20 years ago, it was contained to the downtown with few connections to surrounding areas. The markets weren't ready for development.

But light rail's trump card is this: It can shape the growth of vibrant neighborhoods in a way buses and cars can not. To be successful light rail advocates must sell their vision of thriving communities. That argument sells best in city cores where citizens don't want to lose valued land, heritage buildings, and public spaces to ever-widening roads.

Proposals to build light rail may fail unless advocates make something other than movement of people the focus of debate. It's one of the reasons a proposal in Orlando failed.