Posting Every Day

So it's been a little difficult to post every day since I'm out of town but here are some news articles to get folks going.

A University of Arkansas study wins an award for its transit vision.

Sacramento Looks into Streetcars.

Cincinnati Looks into Streetcars.

Simple Answers to Overly Simplistic Questions

Most light rail detractors grumble and make the same comments as a man in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Here are the answers to his questions about the so called money pit of Central Avenue.

....

Light rail between Minneapolis and St. Paul will be an eternal money pit subsidized by the taxpayers of Minnesota and a waste of federal taxpayer dollars.

It will not reduce congestion on I-94. OW - Nothing will reduce congestion. Build a freeway and it produces sprawl which feeds more congestion.

It will lose money every year like the Hiawatha Line. OW - You lose about $10,000 a year driving a car, you have to pay to operate it don't you? And someone has to pay to build and fix roads and parking lots right?

It will replace current bus service that already uses University Avenue. OW - And will probably lower the operating costs per passenger of that line like Portland has, allowing more money to be put into bus service.

It will narrow, congest and eliminate lanes of traffic on University Avenue. OW - This is a straw man. It will increase the overall capacity of the road.

etc etc etc...

same as usual...

Louisville Bringing It Back

Louisville has tried a few times, but now they are bringing back the idea. Perhaps this time it will work.

Little Rock Starts Thinking Big

Little Rock is on the move with streetcar expansion plans. Keith Jones is really doing a tremendous job and keeping the triad in line. The one thing thats been good for the little rock project is that they have kept it inexpensive (The last mile extension to the Clinton Library was $8.5 Million a mile double tracked) and they have had three public officials who have led since day one. It's a strange thing because usually elected officials don't last as long as they have together. The county leader and the mayors of Little Rock and North Little Rock have stuck it out though and have been all about the streetcar from the start. Here are some photos of the extension.

Much Too Much

I think we're getting to a point where even streetcars are out of the league of a lot of cities because they are overbuilt. $30 million a mile is ridiculous. We should get to the bottom of this.

Arlington or Tyson's Corner

Of course Arlington. Land above the Rosslyn Ballston Metro Line which constitutes 7% of Arlington County also gets 33% of the counties tax revenues. This is because in the 70s the county embraced a visionary wedges and corridors plan which preserved single family neighborhoods while allowing high density along the transit corridor. Subsequent research has found that a majority of metro riders on this line walk to the stations instead of drive. It's rather amazing.

Atlanta Still Not Trying Hard Enough

Take a look at the map, I'm wondering if its forward thinking enough. Any thoughts?

Streetcars and Light Rail Have a Certain Function

There is an article in the Dallas Morning News that is a good start for the DFW region. Basically the director of the NCTCOG which is the MPO is calling for investment in rail transit over only freeways. This is why they are going to beat Atlanta.

There is also an article in the Kansas City Star whereabouts Dave Scott is calling for a realistic light rail plan that is mostly streetcars. While I like streetcars and have been a proponent of them I can't say that I agree with his plan. I think streetcars operate well in really dense environments as circulators and can be applied as line haul systems if when they get out of the CBD they have their own right of way. People won't ride them if they stop every block or at every light outside of town.

We need to get practical in a hurry. Our system will need to be “ultra-light” rail. Heavy-rail and many light-rail systems have required dedicated rights of way, grade separation, large stations, tunnels and bridges — all things we don’t have or can’t afford. Instead, we will need to primarily use our streets for right of way, making our system look more like our old streetcar system than many of today’s more expensive rail systems.

This opinion is probably that of many city leaders. This is why we keep hearing about BRT. "We can't afford it and we want to do it cheap." Whatever happened to doing it right the first time? These are century investments we are talking about here, not just a strip mall that can be redeveloped in 20 years. If they really wanted to do it they would build a system that was bare bones but the essentials and add on later. They could put ADA lifts in the vehicles instead of building large elaborate stations and hold the consultants and engineers accountable for extra pennies and decisions that are not needed. While I agree Kansas City needs light rail, i think they should do it right the first time and build a system that people will ride.

USA Today Kinda Covers the Space Race

Except the articles is about freeways taking care of congestion. As I've stated before Atlanta is running scared...

Atlanta's boosters say that unless drastic steps are taken to unclog the highways here, the city won't be able to compete with fast-growing places such as Phoenix, Denver, San Diego, Charlotte and Dallas — all of which have made long-term commitments to major transportation improvements.

What the article fails to mention is that all of those cities are investing not only in roads, but heavily in light rail networks. Dallas, Denver and San Diego have a head start but Charlotte and Phoenix are planning large systems as well. This is in comparison to Atlanta which has a smaller heavy rail system. The problem is that it was never built out as planned and shows the difference between Washington DC Metro's build out which they have achieved as planned and Atlanta which stopped short of its goals. Now Atlanta is known as the road capital of the United States.

But we know that spending a bunch of money on roads won't relieve congestion. Lyndon Henry did an analysis of the big dig and found that for the $15 billion investment they made the new road only takes 1.8% of the total vehicle miles traveled of the whole region. Isn't that the same argument that the road warriors have been using about rail? Yet at a hypothetical 30 million per mile, Boston could have built 500 miles of light rail. That would have taken more than 1.8% of VMT for sure. Wendell Cox and company have been against government waste but their goals are sure. More roads and oil dependence are the answer. The USA Today article might not get it, but the transit space race is a key part of cities reducing their dependence on the automobile and creating more sustainable cities.

Who Wants to Pull the Rug Out?

The Reason Foundation's crazy anti anything but roads folks. Apparently there are going to be enough signatures for a Charlotte ballot measure to repeal the tax that passed in 1998 to pay for transit and the new light rail system. This has serious implications for the Space Race because Charlotte is a leader. They are one of the visionaries and if a bunch of partisan hacks are able to mislead people into voting for this crap which also seriously destroys bus funding then the state of this country is worse than i thought. Bush and Company have really ripped out our soul and sold it to the oil companies.