Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Automobile is Like a Candy Bar

Reposted from my previous blog.

I keep thinking about how the Automobile is driving america mad. It seems to me like it's the epitome of personal choice and Conservatism vs. Liberalism or Progressivism or whatever you want to call either of the two. But to me American is to Car like Kid is to Candy Bar. How does that work out you ask? Well when we are younger we are taught the food pyrimid. And we are also taught about the food groups of which you have to have portions of each to make up a balanced meal. Well in order to have a balanced city we have to have all the transportation types and like food groups, too much of one thing could be bad. Enter the car. We have so much car that eventually cities are going to have heart attacks. The congestion will be so great and there will be little people can do to fix it. Thats why we need to go on a diet now. I don't really believe in diets, mostly cause i ran in college and know that most people are really lazy and i'll admit i'm an elitist in that respect. But in order to get fit you need to change lifestyle, not just not eat for a few days then binge. But everyone knows that to lose weight you have to take in less calories than you expend during the day. That means excercise and for cities, they have to stop building roads and work out a little. Build up the infrastructure like you would your body. Too many roads is akin to getting fat and not putting in the transit infrastructure is like saying your going to the gym but you're not. They are just wasting your time while you watch TV. I guess traffic is like TV. Staring into space wasting money and brain cells. Don't get me wrong though, i love TV and I love sugar based candy bars. And when I was little I surely thought that life would be grand if i could have them for every meal. But a few Halloween's later we all learn that too much candy can lead to bad bad things. O'Toole, Cox and road only folks are basically telling everyone to get on Atkins. Sure you can eat bacon for every meal but you're heart might explode in the process. Buses, Trains, Bikes, Walking, Cars...they are all part of a healthy city.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Mobility Myth

Richard Layman over at Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space discusses the interesting comments from the Washington Post editorial board on reducing congestion. Fred Hiatt of the Post states wrongly of course that we can build our way out of congestion and that we can never fix it is a myth. But the real myth Layman says is: "anyone who wants to can drive a car whenever they want and that the roads to accommodate them can be easily provided." He's right. We shouldn't be building to accommodate free flow whenever people need to use the roads. There are certain times a day when of course everyone is going from one place to another.


Mr. Layman also brings about the following Private Mobility Myth from Bacon's Rebellion Blog


Regardless of where they live, work, seek services and participate in leisure activities, citizens believe that it is physically possible for the government to build a roadway system that allows them to drive wherever they want to, whenever they want to go there and arrive in a timely and safe manner.

The Private-Vehicle Mobility Myth helps parents convince themselves that the house with the “big yard” may be a long way from where the jobs, services, recreation and amenities are now, but that will change. Politicians reinforce the myth by continuing to promise that “soon” they will improve the roads and the big yard owners will be able to get to wherever quickly.

Monday, February 26, 2007

More Milwaukee and a Sane Commentary

As I've stated before, the crazy folks in Milwaukee and elsewhere (Villains like O'Toole and Cox) believe that transit is for the poor. They think that if the economy was better everyone would be able to drive. Well the editorial staff of the local newspaper isn't buying it and it shows. After printing numerous positive letters to the editor and listening to the opposition, they've had enough.

This'll be a stunning statement here, he said, accurately. "I want to have a system that serves the needs of people who are dependent on mass transit. But ideally, I'd like to build an economy in this county and this city that means that fewer people are dependent on mass transit."In other words, transit is welfare, which government provides for the poor souls who lack cars. Transit's also a zero-sum game, in which the middle class benefits only at the expense of the needy. Transit wasn't always welfare. The middle class and the poor rode the streetcars of yore shoulder to shoulder. In other cities - Minneapolis-St. Paul being a recent example - light rail has proved to be one way to return to those days.

Just fighting the good fight. Props to the Journal Sentinel for figuring it out.

The Deja Vu and SAFETEA LU

Does this sound familiar?

To make matters worse, the 1952 rollover legislation actually curtailed the ability of urban projects to qualify for federal aid. In these circumstances, just as before World War II, the states responded by borrowing for streets, roads and highways. Between 1952 and 1955, the total amount of such debt exploded, from $5.8 billion in 1952 to $10.1 billion by the end of 1955 (about $75 billion in today dollars).

Any road warriors want to talk about free markets still? I could go on all year with this stuff. 20th Century Sprawl

Sunday, February 25, 2007

An Inconvenient Truth

...is that the Subway Station that serves the theater where the Oscar's were held was closed for the Oscar's.

Yes He Takes the Subway

In reading a Rolling Stone piece about my favorite newscaster and former Sportcenter great Keith Olbermann, it is revealed that yes, he takes the subway to work. The reason? "It makes me feel like a human being." he says. I agree.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Milwaukee Folks Are Thinking

Lately I've been seeing a healthy amount of crazy libertarians and anti-transit activists gracing the pages of Milwaukee Newspapers. Of course my thought that all people in that city might be like that was proved wrong by a slew of letters to the editor in which most supported the Mayor's new transportation plan. At least some people get it.

They Don't Really Care About Us

In the next few weeks I'm going to be quoting and commenting on clips from the book 2oth Century Sprawl. The following quote is interesting because it shows that all along the roads movement hasn't cared about urban mobility but rather just treating urban areas as a nuisance. Thomas MacDonald, head of the Bureau of Public Roads, was a huge proponent of the Federal Highway System. However in order to get them built he needed the traffic counts from urban areas. In promising congestion alleviation it would get a lot of political support that was needed to build the system. MacDonald's report, Interregional Highways was the basis for the 1944 Federal Aid Highway Act that created the Federal Highway System, needed the urban areas to buy in. But the following says it all...

In another section of the report, MacDonald acknowledged with surprising candor that the urban components of the system were not designed to alleviate urban congestion, except to the extent that they would provide relieve to those motorists for whom the city was an inconvenient obstruction.
That's how people think of the city today as well. While Rick Perry in Texas believes that the TransTexas Corridor will alleviate congestion, that is not his want at all. He just wants the political support from urban areas.

So even the King of Roads acknowledged that the Interstate Highway System was not built to alleviate urban congestion, so why do we continue to listen to people who want to build more and more and more roads to solve congestion? They just want to avoid the city all together. We also know that because of Highway Federalism that most of the money collected from gas taxes in Urban Areas does not go into urban projects. It's redistributed around the state in which that region is a part. This is the problem with our funding system, so why don't we hear more about it?

Friday, February 23, 2007

Culbertson Gets Catcalls and Boos

The Houston Chronicle reports today that Congressman Evil got Booed at a light rail meeting last night.
When Culberson said that "97 percent of residents on or near Richmond oppose" a light rail line there, the audience of about 200 erupted in "boos" and catcalls.
That's what happens when you lie straight to people's faces about things. Hiding behind people with familiar viewpoints in public settings and writing op-eds that make sense to no one but yourself make one believe that they are always right. However we learned last night that folks who live on Richmond that want the rail are fed up with Culbertson's crap, and showed it. Way to go!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Section 5309 New Starts

So the 2008 Funding for New Starts projects came out. Guess what, the small starts program gives bus projects a nod. What a waste of money. These are projects that the transit agencies should do themselves. So called rapid buses that only have signal pre-emption and nextbus timing technology should not be allowed under fixed guideway. The reason is because there is no fixed guideway.

Another interesting thing is the waste of money that came up is the Harford Busway. They could have built light rail for less and more of it. $50 million a mile for grade separated BRT is ridiculous. They are going to prove that if you're going to build BRT, you might as well build LRT because you'll get more out of it and at a lower operating cost.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Chandler Arizona and the TSR

It seems that a major city building a light rail line does funny things to a small city on the outskirts. It might just want to make you join the service district after decreeing long ago that they didn't want the taxes. But now they want the trains, so they'll start paying their dues. How novel. Phoenix is in the space race, and now in order to plan for more expansions they need more partners. But this is what its like around the country. Major city builds rail, the surrounding areas yell gimme gimme. I'm not saying its bad, but it does point out that those anti-railistas that lurk in cities without rail yet are fighting a losing battle. City after city are catching clues and it won't be long until holdouts like Cincinnati stop trading the creative class and jobs for the right to only drive cars.

UPDATE: Not a few hours after I go to bed an article was released on how Phoenix planners decide they are going to ask for $1.7 billion dollars worth of Light Rail extensions to the original plan! Welcome to the Space Race.

The Pop Culture of Trains

You've seen those commercials where superstars are singing about their Chevys or car companies show that people love their cars so much because they were in a rap video or whatever...but what about trains? Here is a little Empire Builder, the train from Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul to Seattle made famous by the Great Northern Railway.

Empire Builder - Mason Jennings
All day, everyday
I swing my hammer to the metal on the northern railway
Always a movie playing in my head
A million movies starring you and me
Moonshine every night
Eating supper by the fire out in the clear moonlight
Ankles crossed, hands behind my head
Telling stories, singing songs about the west

I'm always thinking of you
Staring off down the railroad line
One sweet day i will see you
But i'll swing the hammer until
The empire builder brings me home

For two months and two odd weeks
Sometimes days go by in which nobody speaks
From Illinois to Washington
There ain't nothing but the hammer to the rail

One day when this track runs through
I'm gonna buy a new suit and come looking for you
Care free, you and me
We'll take the empire builder to the sea

And i'm always thinking of you
Staring off down the railroad line
One sweet day i will see you
But i'll swing the hammer until
The empire builder brings me home

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Charlotte Citizens Understand the Space Race

So Charlotte is being held up by a lot of other cities around the country as one that will beat them if they don't get moving. It's a good position to be in as there is nothing easier that hanging in there and having hope on the attack instead of being afraid that someone is coming. There are always bumps in the road and Charlotte has had theirs but it I now think I understand the problems many cities are having with the Federal Government based on an article in today's Observer.

No matter how hard they try to push bus rapid transit, people just don't want it. In Connecticut, the Hartford Busway which will be a true BRT is costing $50 million per mile. Thats a lot of cash for a bus. And it's also more than the cost of building a rapid streetcar line on the same right of way. What is the point in that? Are they going to prove that it's just as cheap and useful as Curitiba that way? That model was based on easily changeable land use policy (NIMBY doesn't exist in South America) and cheap labor (easy in South America as well).

But that won't change what people on the Southeast Corridor want in Charlotte. They see the BRT as a lowly gesture in their direction. Why are the other corridors getting light rail and we are stuck with the BRT? Why aren't we going to be treated the same? This happened in Atlanta with MARTA. The rest of the system into the poor areas was to be built out as bus lines and that smacked of racism. Is the current trend towards BRT just a way to give poor citizens second class transit? Is it a way to keep transit only for the poor instead of providing rapid transit options for everyone? Well I have a feeling that the people who push BRT believe in these things. They aren't doing it for the betterment of cities but rather to keep transit down.

There are some good places where BRT might be the best option, but I feel like most BRT fanatics just don't like rail. They don't like that people ride it, they feel like it takes money from roads and they don't understand why not everyone wants to live in the Suburbs and drive to work everyday. To them i say, I don't understand you either, but perhaps we should work something out so that we stop wasting money on something that people just don't want. It's been voiced over and over again in public statements. Statements from Charlotte below.

Here are some of comments made by people at the Southeast Corridor public meetings:

"I want equity. Do not give us buses because we are poorer and have more minorities."

"Matthews-Bus Rapid Transit makes one feel cut off from Charlotte."

"I prefer commuter rail in the Southeast Corridor."

"Light rail benefits the Southeast Corridor."

"SE residents will not ride bus rapid transit! Light rail transit is the only viable alternative!"

The comments go on and on. Interestingly, nobody stood up at any of these meetings and said anything like "I like the busway" or "Busways are a good idea."

Seems like they should get what they want, they are the ones paying for it.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Milwaukee Mayor Makes a Leap

While Milwaukee has been making plans for Commuter rail and figuring out how to fund it to Chicago, the Mayor has been coming up with a plan to spend money that the FTA still owes the city. It includes a streetcar loop and a connection to express buses and the new commuter rail line. In the article though, the County Executive is calling it a trojan horse for light rail.

Barrett envisions a city where trains, buses, streetcars, parking facilities and pedestrian corridors would work together in a "comprehensive and affordable" way to provide improved transit for workers and city visitors. But the plan sparked conflict with Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who called it "really just a Trojan horse for light rail" and "a drain on the limited resources we have available to support the bus system."Barrett shot back by pointing to Walker's six years of cutting Milwaukee County Transit System service and raising fares, saying, "It sounds to me like his mission is to kill Milwaukee County transit," not protect it.


The comments from Walker are more bs straight from the O'Toole and Cox camp. If you don't have resources, then create them. People can't just keep getting away with everything for free, including roads. But perhaps we should even the playing field before arguing that free market forces are at work when we can see from the previous post that they most certainly won't. I would be glad to see this be a trojan horse for light rail and other modes. The trojan horse against rail was let loose years ago, why not fight back?

Update from the Comments...More on this Topic from Brewcityzen.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Automobility Quotes

As I was away from my computer this weekend i did pick up a book called 20th Century Sprawl by Owen Gutfreund, the director of Urban Studies at Columbia University. There is a lot of good research but this line hit me the most.

Between 1921 and 1932 American Governments spent $21 Billion dollars on streets and highways and collected only $5 billion from motor vehicle users. This meant that motorists were directly contributing less than 1/4 of the direct costs of adapting use of the automobile.


But of course freeways have always been paid for by user fees, never subsidized right??? But who subsidized the streets for cars and trucks without being allowed to raise their rates? Streetcar Companies

As a private company operating under a public franchise, large portions of DTCs (Denver Tramway Company) cost structure was governed by its franchise agreement, as were fares. For example, one of the oldest provisions of the contract required the company to pay half the maintenance and repair costs on streets with two way operation...As more and more streets were paved and improved and subjected to the pounding wear-and-tear of thousands of automobiles and trucks, which were much heavier than the horse drawn vehicles in use when DTC had made this financial commitment, the company had to contribute more and more money to street projects....However, the franchise agreement also capped fares at 5 cents and in 1917 despite record ridership levels, DTC was unable to pay a dividend and reported an annual loss of half a million dollars.


A change to a 7 cent fare led to the 1920 tramway strikes because people have never wanted to pay the full cost of transportation, whether it be roads or transit. They expect it to be subsidized for their autos, so why is everyone complaining about subsidizing transit, especially when initially transit helped build and maintain those roads that allowed autos to become dominant.


Thursday, February 15, 2007

Representing TOD

This is really cool. A developer in Maryland on a Metro line has decided he is going to show residents what he is going to do....with balloons!

North College Park residents concerned that six planned buildings at the Greenbelt Metro will not mesh with existing neighborhoods will get a chance to see just how high the buildings would be. Six balloons — outlining the height and width of the proposed structures — will be raised by developer Petrie Ross Ventures from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday, giving residents a visual of what the buildings’ sizes.

I wonder if this will catch on.

The Billion Dollar Peachtree

An article in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution talks about plans for a Peachtree Streetcar and a total streetscape overhaul. They even figured out how to pay for it. The breakout is below

ROAD TO THE FUTURE

A group of business and civic leaders is fine-tuning a $1 billion recommendation to transform the Peachtree corridor, including a streetcar line and other improvements.

How would the money be spent?
Streetcar lines: $450 million
Land / right of way: $160 million
Streetcapes: $100 million
Burying utility lines: $75 million
Parks / green space: $70 million
Road improvements: $70 million

Where would the money come from?
Special tax district: $450-$650 million
Southside tax allocation district: $100-$150 million
Federal grants: $100-$150 million
Parking tax: $50 million
City of Atlanta: $25 million-$50 million
Private donations: $15 million-$20 million


That's a lot of cash. More info on the project can be found at AtlantaStreetcar.com

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Building a Transit System

A lot has been said about different transit modes over the years but I'd like to offer some commentary on some advocates including sometimes myself. While we want to believe that there is a silver bullet for congestion out there but there isn't. What is needed is a system. A system where people can choose to take another mode instead of driving everyday everywhere. While some freeway opponents want to believe we can just expand our freeways, that is not possible. The reason being is that your never going to relieve congestion that way. However much room there is on the freeway, it will always fill up. Always. But if we have a transit SYSTEM, people can avoid that. Is it really so hard to understand?

Here is a quote that relates from Molly Ivins, who recently passed away....

"It's hard to argue against cynics -- they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side."

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Cost of Sprawl

A little food for thought on smart growth.

For a suburban home in somewhere like Oakley California or Spring Texas it costs $8,500 per housing unit to provide water and sewer infrastructure. Compare that to in a neighborhood like West University in Houston or Berkeley California where that same house only costs $6,540 to hook up to the water and sewer if it were single family detached.

Now if it were attached in West U or Berkeley it would cost $5050. And if it were a multi-family unit it would cost a measly $3,800. So perhaps someone can elaborate on why a 500 home subdivision that includes roads in the suburbs (not included in the above numbers) is market driven while the 500 unit building downtown is subsidized. According to the research, that apartment complex downtown just saved $2,350,000 in water and sewer alone. That doesn't even count roads and the negative externalities of driving or detached housing and energy use etc etc etc.

Data from Sprawl Costs by Robert Burchill et al. from Island Press.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Sacramento Wants in the Transit Space Race

So Sacramento needs to make some Capital improvements to their transit system in order to participate. Well Dr. Beverly Scott of RT is way ahead of the other Sacramento regional authorities and is said to plan a bond measure to pay for new rail and bus infrastructure by 2010. It's a good thing too because if they want to build a streetcar and the Downtown Nantomas Airport Light Rail line along with their 20 year vision they are going to need some more funding.

More from the Sacramento Bee

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Houston We Have a Problem...

From Texas Transportation Institute Data. This is provided over at publictransit.us from a friend in Portland. While it would be good to see total expenditures and regions of similar size, this is really interesting information. Houston is always the dream of Cox and O'Toole while Portland is the planning dream world. I think the best number on here is the very last one. Congestion cost per person. Apparently building freeways doesn't work like they thought it did.

It's easier to read if you click on it. Enjoy!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

To Subway or Not to Subway

Apparently the FTA has given Tyson's Corner another opinion on the possibility of a subway tunnel. Live from the Third Rail has some good coverage and I tend to agree with the quote below:

It is disappointing that the national transit agency, which is supposedly interested in providing funding for high-quality transportation projects, has such trouble seeing through its foggy glasses and cannot recognize the advantages of a subway. It is heartening, though, that local businessmen and activists may be able to turn the situation around and convince Virginia's politicians that only a subway makes sense.

Kay Railey Hutchison?

Kay Bailey Hutchison has this to say about transit in Texas. She's a supporter but how much? Enough to tell Culbertson to shove it? I guess we should ask her.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Transit Space Race Update: Atlanta

I missed these articles but it is a good example of whats going on in the space race, specifically that folks in Atlanta are worried that other southeastern cities are going to eat their lunch.

A recent article in the Gwinnet Daily Post claims other cities are leapfrogging Atlanta for transit supremacy in the Southeast.

While Atlanta’s inner core has been served for decades by the MARTA rail system, efforts to connect the city with its more distant suburbs via commuter rail service have languished. As a result, smaller Southeastern cities like Nashville and Charlotte, N.C. — which now features light rail — have moved ahead of Atlanta in offering commuters an alternative to driving on clogged highways. "They’re beginning to outstrip the transportation hub of the Southeast,’’ said Emory McClinton of Atlanta, a member of the State Transportation Board and longtime proponent of commuter rail.


In December, the former king of Road Warriors in Atlanta had this to say in an Op-Ed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

How then does Georgia expect to compete for industry and jobs against cities such as Miami, Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Denver, and Orlando, whose transportation alternatives are more than a decade ahead of Georgia's? Commuter rail just started operating in Nashville. Denver, Dallas and Portland have light rail in operation, while Charlotte is in the advanced stages of comprehensive regional alternative transportation planning.

Hopefully Atlanta wakes up from its congestion creation machine soon. They do have some interesting projects going on including the Beltline, The Brain Train, The Peachtree Streetcar and the embattled Lovejoy Commuter Rail. Those will help but a possible expansion of MARTA along with other improvements would go a long way.


Thursday, February 8, 2007

Straphangers Rejoice!

Apparently short riders on Washington Metro were getting the shaft. Now they've put in 20 spring loaded handles on a single car to test them out. I would think they would want to put them on more than one car but at least they are starting to think about it. When i was riding BART to Lafayette from Oakland, it was always packed at rush hour in the afternoon. There would always be someone who couldn't quite reach and just had to hope that everyone else would hold them up during acceleration. Maybe BART will be next.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Tram Sign Blogging

There are lots of cool tram signs around the world. This one is in Melbourne Australia. Thought I would share some. This one was taken by Boyd at Flickr. Enjoy.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

More Mapping and Jacksonville

Over at Metro Jacksonville they did the mapping exercise of comparing routes. I don't know Jacksonville very well but it seems like one line (the BRT) is aimed at commuters and one is aimed (LRT) at economic development. While both are important, which one is more important than the other given that these two lines don't follow a similar path? It looks from casual observation that they are both bad.

Why you ask? Well after further reading he compares the proposed LRT route to Austin which in fact it is much like Austin in that it doesn't really hit the main traffic corridor and does not go all the way into downtown. But Jacksonville has an amazing opportunity that isn't even being looked at to the South. On a main arterial to the South there are large grass medians to put LRT and once through downtown, arterial LRT could take travelers to the Major Regional Hospital and further north to a dead mall.

The arterials are where the opportunities lie. Not where things are cheaper such as with BRT or most rail rights of way. The reason is that this is where people drive and its also where the TOD redevelopment opportunities are because believe it or not, strip malls are not where the money is at anymore. Finally, in the google map from the link above, you can see major opportunities west of the downtown for redevelopment. A good catalyst might be...a streetcar? There is a peoplemover out there...but it just doesn't do enough.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Washington DC and Wires

Apparently when they ran the streetcars in Washington DC laws had been written that would require that no overhead wires in the District West of the Anacostia River be used to power anything. While this law keeps out unsightly wires it also discourages bringing back the streetcars that once ran down the streets of Washington. The pilot Anacostia Streetcar project on an abandoned right of way is not subject to these restrictions however anything West of this new project is affected.

The only possible fix is the third rail technology that has been used in Bordeaux France. This system, pioneered and owned by Alstom is rumored to not be available and the word on the street is that it won't be available in the United States any time soon. According to Werner Uttinger, the safety certification process in the United States is too much to overcome to bring this technology to the United States so for now it seems that DC will have to invent its own power system or keep dreaming.

UPDATE: In the comments Christof has this to say...

The "no overhead wire" law predated DC's streetcars. As a result, the city used conduit streetcars, with the electrical supply buried in a slot in the street (resembling a cable car slot). As proved by more than 70 years of operation, it was a workable system, but expensive to build and labor-intensive to maintain. Pictures here. If you ever wondered what streamliner cable cars might have looked like: Click Here

Apparently also, since it was so expensive to have the underground conduit, there were pits on the outskirts of town to switch to overhead wires. This is a similar situation to Bordeaux where the Alstom trainsets change to overhead wires outside the historic downtown. Thanks for the Links Christof.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Superbowl Sunday!

It's Superbowl Sunday and the teams are Indianapolis and Chicago. If we have to vote by going purely off of transit systems, this one is a no brainer. Chicago's legacy system beats Indianapolis' buses hands down. Basically Indianapolis forfeits the game. But thats only in transit, lets see how the game plays out.

If anyone saw Mo Rocca on Letterman he slammed Indianapolis players for the city taking out their streetcars. If you're a transit nerd it was pretty funny. But I can't find a youtube clip. So if anyone finds it let me know.

Friday, February 2, 2007

What If...



















Transit Miami did it for Miami, M1ek did it for Austin, Christof did it for Houston, and the Transit Coalition has lots of maps on possible LA scenarios so I thought maybe i would throw my hat in the ring.

Above is my dream map of San Francisco. Black lines are existing and colors are not. The northern most green line would be an extension of the F line. It would also serve as a piece of the Van Ness blue line subway. The reason it wouldn't be a surface line is that that street is way too busy as it is and being the main 101 freeway route to the Golden Gate the line should be underground.

The red elbow is the central subway thats under planning right now. However it should be extended to the orange line into the Marina district. The indigo line goes north south to connect lines and the Richmond district with the San Francisco State. And finally the bottom red line connector would meet up the Geneva rail yards with the end of the 3rd street light rail that just opened up. These are my dream routes to expand an already pretty good rail transit system. I hope they do the blue, yellow and orange lines first because those are the ones i would use the most! Anyone else have dreams?

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Dallas and the Space Race

As the first city in Texas to build light rail Dallas is planning a large expansion that has been approved by the FTA. The road to light rail wasn't so easy though. Similar to Austin in their approach, Dallas formed a Transit Authority with the sole purpose of building rail. While it was a bus company also, the point was to build a regional rail system with a 1983 map showing 160 miles worth of rail planned. After waiting a while to start Dallas finally completed its first line in 1996. Now after a few extensions DART is gearing up for two more to bring the total to 93 miles by 2014. Half of this will be paid for by the second largest Full Funding Grant Agreement by the FTA ever for a new start project, the east side access project in NYC being the first.

One light rail extension is planned to go to the airport. This will put Dallas among the few mutltimodal transit/airport hubs in the United States. Operation on the Orange Line is planned to start in 2011 and connect Dallas with Los Colinas also. The other extension is the Green Line. It will go from Pleasant Grove in the southeast through the hip neighborhoods of Deep Ellum, through downtown and north to Carrolton. At some point it will probably be extended to Denton.

In addition the Mckinney avenue trolley is being expanded. Bonds for an expansion were passed in November of 2006 and this key part of the Dallas rail system will finally form a real connection between Cityplace station and the downtown transit mall via the rapidly developing uptown district. Finally is the move by the region to petition the state to allow them to raise another half cent for commuter rail operations. This push has been bubbling all last year but it remains to be seen whether the state house in Austin who has often been hostile.

These expansions will keep Dallas at the top of the Texas transit food chain and hopefully someone in Austin will take notice of the way it could have been while Houston and Dallas kick their butts.