CHARLOTTE — Charlotte City Council is turning to research experts at UNC Charlotte to help the city figure out the next steps for transportation modeling.
With the I-77 project dead, residents wonder what’s next.
“I think that’s simply what people are asking, is, Hey, how do we know that what we’re doing, whether it’s transportation or housing or infrastructure or whatever, how do we know that’s the best choice, so that we’re not always making a choice between winners and losers,” said Council member Dr. Victoria Watlington, D-At large.
That’s why Watlington proposed and successfully landed $300,000 in the Charlotte City Council budget to partner with researchers at UNC Charlotte.
She says they will do a literature review to find out what’s the latest with transportation and urban planning. They will then analyze the city’s model and suggest changes. This is how Charlotte makes infrastructure and transportation decisions.
“It’s not just going to look at transportation, it’s going to look at land use, as well, because we know just like we talked about in the Housing Committee on Monday, land use and transportation policy should be inextricably linked,” Watlington said.
She hopes the partnership will prevent future councils from having to back out of big projects when questions are raised.
“We live in a time where we see technological advancements faster than we’ve ever seen them, and we’re just trying to catch up,” she said.
UNC Charlotte statement:
“UNC Charlotte’s role is scientific and evaluative and to provide an independent technical evaluation of the modeling and data ecosystems the city currently uses. Recommendations on which projects to fund, which corridors to prioritize, or which policies to adopt remain with the City of Charlotte.”
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