Design of train stations is important. My favorite airport in the US is Austin, because when you get off the plane, the high ceilings make you feel free from the cramped space. I think good train stations can give that same feeling.
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Salt Lake City is looking at Streetcar network plans. Just another arrow in the quiver.
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The Houston Chronicle interviewed the outgoing chairman of Metro. From afar, it seems like he's done a good job at moving the network forward. I hope he gets replaced with someone as good. Another interesting thing to note is the opposition from the congressional delegation. Sometimes I have to wonder why cities get represented by the suburbs, which seems to happen a lot, especially in Texas.
I'd say my two favorite US airports are Austin and Portland, just for this reason, towering main concourses with lower waiting spaces. They just make you feel like you're soaring. There aren't enough US rail stations like that.
ReplyDeleteIn the attached map on the Salt Lake Tribune's Web site, they misspelt "redevelopment" as "redevelopmnet". Huh. In any event, the existing light rail line would be quite the area where a streetcar loop can be formed. And it would be excellent to hook it all up with the planned Sugar House Trolley.
ReplyDeleteRouting the streetcar on the TRAX line could be very bad if it tries to implement streetcar-level stop density. The slower streetcar will then slow down already-slow TRAX trains through the downtown section (probably the weakest link in the TRAX system -- it hurts crosstown traffic, though not as badly as the Portland or San Jose pedestrian malls).
ReplyDeleteIf it instead just stops at the TRAX stations when sharing track, it still has the issue that they will probably be low-floor trams -- they will probably need to build extra platforms onto the Trax stations to maintain level boarding.
The good thing is that, at least at the TRAX stations, they can use machines for PoP rather than pay-the-driver.
I imagine the reason that suburbs control cities is simply that there are more voters in the suburbs. As people realise the advantages of urban life cities will move towards supporting the urban areas, leading to a tipping point.
ReplyDeleteMuch of Houston is "represented" by suburban Republicans because Texas Republicans notoriously gerrymandered Texas congressional districts so that a few districts were overwhelmingly Democratic and many others had solid Republican majorities, thus skewing the congressional delegation far more Republican than it would otherwise have been. (Part of the notoriety came from doing it about halfway between decennial national censuses rather than right after one.)
ReplyDeleteYup, it was all Tom DeLay at the same time he tried to kill light rail in Houston. This is what made me hear about him in the first place. The guy who calls himself "the Hammer". He's a bad guy.
ReplyDeletesf intl terminal is nice too, and has high ceilings. plus it has a bart connection and virgin america airlines (which i highly recommend).
ReplyDelete>>Much of Houston is "represented" by suburban Republicans because Texas Republicans notoriously gerrymandered Texas congressional districts so that a few districts were overwhelmingly Democratic and many others had solid Republican majorities, thus skewing the congressional delegation far more Republican than it would otherwise have been.
ReplyDeleteAt least Texas will probably getting 2-3 more solid D seats after the 2010 census.
Architecture critic Gerald Scully famously described the change in Penn Station, New York, as travellers entered the old one as if a god, but now scuttle in like a rat.
ReplyDeleteChicago's Union Station concourse suffered the same treatment, and it's a bit much now when the queue for the Milwaukee train stretches well into the south boarding lounge.