Discovering a version of the Beltline in Charlotte, N.C.

I understand the arguments on both sides of the Beltline rail debate. As a transit-dependent family living without a car in Atlanta, I want our limited transit dollars to provide the most miles of service possible. I also want the transit that we build to be attractive and enjoyable enough so that my young daughter will one day choose to ride it on her own.

I started researching other cities to see if there is an existing corridor like the Atlanta Beltline’s original vision – where light rail and a trail run side by side. I knew that there were some examples in European countries, but initially I could not find anything within the U.S. that’s similar to the Beltline (with transit) until I learned of the Charlotte Rail Trail. To my great surprise, I learned that Charlotte — a city I had not visited in more than 15 years — now has a popular multiuse trail running right next to its Blue Line light rail. Lots of new development, including high rise buildings outside of the city core, are quickly growing along the corridor.

The more I learned about the Charlotte Rail Trail, the more attractive it looked. I decided to take a week-long family trip to experience it for ourselves, and I brought along my camera to document the experience. What we found was so enjoyable that my wife didn’t want to leave at the end of the week. I spent the week talking to people along the corridor while my wife took our daughter out for days of unplanned exploration — walking the trail, catching a train whenever she wanted, and discovering everything from museums and shopping to restaurants and coffee shops.

One thing that made it so enjoyable was the fact that my wife could so easily explore the city without any research or planning. That’s due to the seamless integration of the trail and light rail stations within the same corridor, which blend together to create a beautiful, pedestrian-first experience. She could walk with a stroller until she needed a break, catch the next train, and then continue elsewhere. She never needed a map or a plan. Much of the new development is built to face the trail and transit in a way that could almost make you forget that cars exist in this neighborhood.

Best of all, the locals all had such high praise to offer for the corridor. A business owner told me that the area has become an expensive place to live, but the transit allows his employees to still easily get to work, even if they can’t live close by. It also rained a few times during our visit. If we were in Atlanta, we wouldn’t use the current Beltline trail at all on a rainy day. In Charlotte we didn’t miss a beat since we’d just wait at a covered station for the next train.

Charlotte proves to me that light rail and trails can and should go together. It works. It’s safe. It’s driving economic development while including enough options to make the corridor accessible to everyone. The Atlanta Beltline can do this and even more.

Charlotte built its light rail line first. They added a trail at a later date and placed it whenever it would fit around the existing rail lines. It’s not as wide as our Beltline trail and it crosses back and forth to whichever side of the tracks has the most space. The Atlanta Beltline has instead set aside a dedicated right-of-way for transit while still providing an even wider and greener trail.

Atlanta benefits from decades of planning that might make many people in Charlotte envious. In fact, there are current initiatives to find a way to widen the Charlotte Rail Trail as it grows in popularity, but they are constrained by the fact that their train was not planned with a trail in mind. Atlanta doesn’t have this constraint. It would be a shame for Atlanta to waste decades of planning that has preserved so much right-of-way. It’s something that that other cities could only dream of having.

You can hear the story of the Charlotte Rail Trail from the locals I interviewed in the video and see it for yourself. They have a vibrant, transit accessible neighborhood that makes this native Atlantan envious!