With an initial cost of $427 million — and a complete project price tag that could reach $2.9 billion — the new light rail line in downtown Charlotte has my wholehearted support. And even though we in the mountains will never directly benefit from this project, I predict it’s a small step in a mass transit future our children will benefit from.

Oh yeah, and did you know that all of us taxpayers, perhaps unknowingly, are helping to foot the bill for this massive project? City residents passed a half-cent sales tax in the late 1990s that will help the Charlotte-Mecklenburg government provide about one-quarter of the construction funding. If the city’s funding plan remains intact, though, the state will pay 25 percent of the cost and the federal government 50 percent. That’s you and me.

Construction on this line started the last weekend in February. I was in Charlotte with my family, and the big news in all the papers was this new light rail line, a move that will put Charlotte in league with cities like Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Dallas, Houston and Portland, Ore.

The basic idea is to move commuters, perhaps as many as 25 percent of those going into the downtown commercial areas, on five light rail lines and an enhanced bus system. By doing that, developers will be encouraged to cluster construction of neighborhoods, offices, restaurants and other stores along the routes of these lines, which will encourage even more ridership. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg government will use zoning and financial incentives, along with roads and sidewalks near the station’s to encourage this kind of development.

A shift from Raleigh

Readers of The Smoky Mountain News have likely noticed over the years that we have been quick to criticize the state’s Department of Transportation for being, well, kind of like a stick in the mud. By that I mean not very innovative. It’s leadership — the politically appointed board members and its top administrators — has not embraced some of the innovative techniques for promoting ways to use the automobile less.

Often that criticism falls on the local engineers and project managers. So here’s the opportunity to make a point: if the state’s transportation department (notice it’s not called the road-building department) is going to change, that change must occur at the top. Until board members and the political leaders begin to preach a different gospel, the men and women over at our DOT offices in Webster and throughout the state don’t have any incentive or guidance to embrace a different set of values. In fact, their own efforts at innovation probably fall on deaf ears as they go up the chain of command.

In other words, our rants aren’t directed locally. Instead, we can only hope the debate on transportation moves toward what we believe is its logical direction. This Charlotte project, perhaps, shows there is real hope for an ideological shift at DOT. The state is going to pay up to 25 percent of the cost of this rail project. That’s significant enough for folks around the state to note.

I’ve had the discussion so often since I’ve been in Waynesville that it almost saddens me to think that it probably won’t happen in my lifetime: imagine hopping on a train in Sylva or Waynesville and 45 to 60 minutes later being let out at a depot in downtown Asheville, and vice versa.

The tourist staying at a hotel in Asheville or a bed and breakfast in Bryson City could ride their mountain bike, walk or take a bus to the train station, put that bike on the train or leave it at a depot, and get to Waynesville. Once here, they could ride around or walk to shops in Frog Level or on Main Street, and then eat at one of the fine restaurants in Waynesville or Sylva, and then head back to Asheville.

That may or may not happen, but it should at least be discussed. Commuter trains and transit must succeed before we can hope that train travel for vacations or to visit friends across the country will succeed. It would be great to take a train to Raleigh, but it would do me little good if there wasn’t any hope of getting anywhere once at the depot.

Cultural war

Today, America’s entitlement mentality runs up and down the economic spectrum. The rich are entitled to every kind of display of wealth, and the poor are entitled to live beyond their means. According to the media (movies, commercials, television, many lifestyle magazines), we all need to have lots of big, cool things to shape our identity.

In this view, efficiency and mass transit are simply not cool. When I was 23, I lived for about 10 months without a car while in Boone. It was nearly impossible to get to work and school. I walked, rode a bike, bummed rides from friends, hitchhiked, and sat home on some cold nights reading. It was a different life.

At some point, I believe, as our American cultural identity evolves, we will once again embrace a less-is-more philosophy as a way to measure success. Doing so is the only way we will remain the world’s superpower. We’ll do it or fade into history as a world leader as China or India, Brazil or Indonesia emerges to lead the world.

I know, I know, mass transit shouldn’t lead to such philosophical musings. But who would have thought the invention of the automobile would have such a profound effect on growth, how we use our resources, and world geopolitics.

In a few years when you visit Charlotte, perhaps you’ll have the opportunity to ride on this rail line that is going to be built despite a long list of detractors. It’s the future finally arriving in North Carolina.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)