Charlotte’s Light Rail

November 27, 2007

Congratulations Charlotte on being the first city to build a light rail in North Carolina. Last Saturday the LYNX Blue Line South Corridor opened for operation, and in celebration of Charlotte’s new feline, CATS (Charlotte Area Transit System) ran the trains for free through the weekend. I had the chance to be one of the riders on Saturday morning, and took the trip from the 485/South Blvd Station in South Charlotte up to the 7th Street Station in Uptown. Along with the construction completion of this first line (there are 3 more lines proposed) CATS commissioned 13 artists to install art projects at the different stations.

Thomas Sayre, a sculptor living in Raleigh, was one of the artists selected and his six “sculpture casts” are located at the Scaleybark Station. According to CATS’ website the sculptures “…were inspired by harrow disks, the agricultural tool used for centuries behind a plow to cultivate farmland and still used today. Titled “Furrow,” the name refers to the cultivation trench or “Vee” left in farmland by a plow or harrow and pays tribute to Scaleybark’s agricultural past.” As with many public art projects, “Furrow” was greeted by controversy. Personally I thought the trip was more interesting, because of the variety of art that could be seen through the train windows. After all South Blvd (the road the train runs beside most of the way Uptown) is nothing special to look at.

Lastly in case you are one of those who may be apprehensive to ride the LYNX, CATS has provided the “new rider” with a series of videos to make the process more familiar…

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Tags: , Art, Charlotte, light rail, north carolina, public art, sculpture, transportation