Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Updating the Transit Space Race

After last week there have been a few changes to the Transit Space Race. Unfortunately for the moment Seattle has dropped down to TSR hopeful while I've added Los Angeles to the Space Race because there is so much going on. To see what is going on lets take a look at the stats and go through the list.

In the Space Race...

Wednesday Update: Updates below are in bold... Legacy Post to come soon...

Charlotte - 1 LRT Line Under Construction, 2 LRT Planned, 2 Streetcar Lines, 1 Commuter Rail Line

Dallas/Fort Worth - 2 LRT Lines, 1 Commuter Rail Line, 1 Streetcar Line, 2 LRT Lines Planned, 1 Commuter Rail line planned - More regional commuter rail discussions.

Denver - 2 LRT Lines, 2 Planned, 4 Commuter Rail Lines Planned, Streetcar discussions

Houston - 1 LRT Lines, 5 Planned, Commuter Rail discussions

Los Angeles
- 1 Heavy Rail Line, 3 LRT Lines, 2 LRT Under Construction, 2 LRT Planned, 1 Heavy Rail Line Planned, 1 BRT Line, 7 Commuter Rail lines, Other Corridor Discussions

Phoenix - 1 LRT Line Under Construction, 4 Corridors Planned, Commuter rail discussion

Portland - 3 LRT Lines, 1 Streetcar Line, 1 Light Rail Line Under Construction, 1 Commuter Rail Line Under Construction, 1 Light Rail Line Planned, Streetcar Loop Planned, Streetcar Network Discussion

Salt Lake City - 2 LRT Lines, 1 Commuter Rail Line Under Construction, 4 Light Rail Lines Planned, 1 Commuter Rail Line Planned, Planned Streetcar

St. Louis - 2 LRT Lines, 2 Corridors Under Planning, Planned Streetcar

Minneapolis - 1 LRT Line, 1 Commuter Rail Line Under Construction, 3 Planned LRT Lines, Planned Streetcar System, Planned Commute Rail Lines

Transit Space Race Hopefuls...

Kansas City - Light Rail Discussion

Norfolk - 1 LRT Under Construction, Planned Network

Sacramento
- 3 LRT Lines, 2 Light Rail Lines Planned, 1 Streetcar Line Planned

Seattle - 2 Streetcar Lines, 2 Commuter Rail Lines, 1 LRT Line Under Construction, Extension Planned, Commuter Rail Discussions, LRT Extension Discussions

Tampa - Regional Network discussion

Atlanta - Heavy Rail Lines, 2 Planned Streetcars, Commuter Rail Line Discussions

Eugene
- 1 BRT Line, 2 Planned

San Diego - 3 Light Rail lines, 1 commuter rail line, 1 LRT line planned, Streetcar planned, BRT discussions.

Transit Space Race Hopeless...

Columbus - Streetcar Plans
Cincinnati - Streetcar Plans
Austin - Commuter Rail Under Construction, Fixed Guideway Discussions
Madison - Commuter Rail/BRT Discussions
Milwaukee - Commuter Rail/Streetcar Discussions
Orlando- Planned Commuter Rail/Network Discussions
Las Vegas - Monorail/Bus Rapid Transit
Albuquerque - Commuter Rail line, Planned Streetcar Line
Raleigh Durham - Fixed Guideway Discussion

12 comments:

David Pinero said...

Excellent comprehensive list. Love it! This allows me to reorient my own perspective. Every now and again I swear I'm going to get it straight who's doing what, but you've done the major portion of that plus some. Kudos!

Dave

Anonymous said...

You forgot Washington, DC. Anacostia "light rail" project: wheels spinning (no link, sorry). H St streetcar: rails to be laid soon during massive repaving (part of Great Streets Initiative (http://www.ddot.dc.gov/ddot/cwp/view,a,1249,q,638970,ddotNav_GID,1752,ddotNav,%7C34192%7C.asp); no word on any other pieces of rail (power, rolling stock). MARC service to be expanded but no money yet (http://www.ddot.dc.gov/ddot/cwp/view,a,1249,q,638970,ddotNav_GID,1752,ddotNav,%7C34192%7C.asp).

Anonymous said...

More Washington, DC: Oh yeah, don't forget the FTA is sitting on the Dulles extension plan as well as the never-gonna-happen-in-my-lifetime purple line.

sundinkc said...

Another small correction, Seattle has 2 commuter rail lines. They are both branded as Sounder but the North line and South line are operated independently.

Philip Freyre said...

I know this primarily focuses on light rail, but there are other projects worth mentioning. The New York City Subway is finally (again) building the Second Avenue Line. http://www.mta.info/capconstr/sas/index.html

Also, not mentioning its operating problems for now, Chicago is planning an extension to the Red Line, as well as a new Circle Line connecting all heavy rail lines and commuter rail lines. http://www.transitchicago.com/news/whatsnew2.wu?action=displaynewspostingdetail&articleid=124434

Pantograph Trolleypole said...

Perhaps I should add a post on Legacy expansions that would include DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Philly, New York City, Boston etc. I kept them out because they are growing rather slowly and already have very large transit networks but highlighting them would be good too. What do you guys think?

kenf said...

...but highlighting them would be good too. What do you guys think?

Go for it!

Anonymous said...

...but highlighting them would be good too. What do you guys think?

http://doitdoit.com/

Nickin206 said...

Sad to see you drop Seattle! Especially since our light rail line is coming along nicely, the second Streetcar line is rolling around and set to begin soon.

Cap'n Transit said...

Also, where would you put the various New Jersey Transit projects? In the past ten years they've opened two new light rail lines (the River Line and the Hudson Bergen Light Rail) and an extension to the legacy Newark City Subway, and built a new branch for the Newark City Subway. They've upgraded two commuter lines from bare-bones peak-direction service to waking-hours service and built a large transfer station.

They have four commuter rail system expansions in the planning stage (the Northern Branch, the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line, the Meadowlands station and the Trans-Hudson Express tunnel), two unfunded expansion projects (the Lackawanna Cut-off and the West Trenton line) and one that's apparently been taken off the table (the Newark-Elizabeth Light Rail).

Sadly, that may be coming to an end. None of the state's politicians seem to have the courage to bring about an increase in either the gas tax or the turnpike tolls, leaving the Transportation Trust Fund almost broke and NJ Transit raising fares.

Still, what they've been able to accomplish in the past ten years has put the MTA (extending one commuter rail line a few stops, and connecting two subway lines) and the Port Authority (JFK Airtrain) to shame.

Anonymous said...

Sweet list...

And San Diego; 3 LRT lines, 1 commuter line, 1 planned LRT line, 1 planned high-speed rail terminus.

Average daily LRT ridership now surpassing 120k per weekday.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps an addition for Grand Rapids, Mich. The city is in the study phase (DMJM Harris consultants) for a downtown streetcar to continue the transit and economic revitalization in downtown Grand Rapids.

Late this year to early next year we are expected to get an answer on funding from the Feds for the city's first BRT project.

Currently, there is a citizen's task force gathering steam to get commuter light-rail on the table. No surprise since light-rail has been discussed for about 18 years now.

Some more information at: http://www.ridetherapid.org/about/gt2study/