STEVE LYTTLE slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Renovation of the Elizabeth Avenue business area begins today when Charlotte transportation officials close a portion of the road on the CPCC campus.
Elizabeth Avenue, between Kings Drive and Charlottetowne Avenue, is expected to remain closed until
October.
The goal of the Elizabeth Avenue Business Corridor project is to stimulate redevelopment in the area, from the CPCC campus east to Hawthorne Lane, and to better balance the needs of transit, motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.
The road closing will also affect bus routes. (For full schedules, go to www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS .)
During the next year, crews will relocate curbs, convert the road to one lane in each direction (with a turn lane at intersections with traffic signals), build bicycle lanes, widen the sidewalks, plant more trees and install tracks and poles for future streetcar service.
Charlotte Area Transit System's master transit plan calls for streetcar service from the health department office on Beatties Ford Road near Interstate 85 to Elizabeth and Hawthorne avenues. That line then will extend eastward to Eastland Mall.
However, CATS officials say the money is not available right now to start the line.