Forge Ahead Columbus releases 90 page report on the future of transit in Columbus (Cleveland: construction, taxes)

[Lowkeykennyg]

You can download the report here: Powered by Civic Artworks

It mentions a lot of different important factors to take into consideration when looking into overhauling the current transit situation in Columbus. Personally, while I'd love a light rail, I don't think it makes sense financially in our current predicament and the overall size of the city. It does also mention the Columbus-Chicago high speed connection possibility, which I think would make a lot of sense, and would love to see in the near future.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by Lowkeykennyg

You can download the report here: Powered by Civic Artworks

It mentions a lot of different important factors to take into consideration when looking into overhauling the current transit situation in Columbus. Personally, while I'd love a light rail, I don't think it makes sense financially in our current predicament and the overall size of the city. It does also mention the Columbus-Chicago high speed connection possibility, which I think would make a lot of sense, and would love to see in the near future.

I read this report yesterday and thought they had a lot of good ideas and a lot of information. Unfortunately, this report really has nothing to do with the city, as it was done by a 3rd party. The city itself is all about MORPC and their plan, and I am not sure when any transit plan from it will be implemented, if ever. City leadership has long been "meh" about transit and doing anything about it. Coleman was really the only one in the last 20 years to push for anything, but unfortunately the economy didn't cooperate at the time.

I think light rail would work just fine in Columbus. Some of the MORPC proposals include both commuter rail to suburbs and lines just within the city, such as along High and Broad, among others. There is enough density to justify those. Again, though, who knows when or if they ever get around to moving forward on them.

As far as the Chicago-Columbus line, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had been chosen to receive funding for its construction, so I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about that soon. I know the original plan was to have it up and running by 2020.

[ayoskillz]

Light rail from airport to downtown MAYBE will work but other than that columbus is too spread out for light rail to be efficient. I dont see anyone on a Saturday afternoon get on a train to go downtown while its quicker to just drive. Light rail is made for dense cities

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

Light rail from airport to downtown MAYBE will work but other than that columbus is too spread out for light rail to be efficient. I dont see anyone on a Saturday afternoon get on a train to go downtown while its quicker to just drive. Light rail is made for dense cities

The High and Broad corridors are more than dense enough to handle light rail. This is especially true when you consider that many cities have rail in corridors that have lower densities than the potential routes in Columbus, including Cincinnati's streetcar. The average density of the entire city is approaching 4000 ppsm, including all the low density suburban areas on the fringe. There is way more density around the core city than people seem to ever believe. The High and Broad corridors generally have a density range of 6,000-12,000 and peak near 30K around Campus. Also, rail routes tend to promote increased construction along the route, which increases population density along and near the line. I agree that routes have to be carefully chosen to maximize ridership, though.

[ayoskillz]

30k around the campus... where are they getting on light rail to go?? Light rail is made outter city to inner city. jost places because of traffic. I dont see light rail going from downtown to easton. Its too far. I can see it maybe going up to Dublin but will prolly just be use during work days. Again also to the aiport but will be use for professional mainly. Columbus doesnt have a hard core center like some cities other than campus area and short north.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

30k around the campus... where are they getting on light rail to go?? Light rail is made outter city to inner city. jost places because of traffic. I dont see light rail going from downtown to easton. Its too far. I can see it maybe going up to Dublin but will prolly just be use during work days. Again also to the aiport but will be use for professional mainly. Columbus doesnt have a hard core center like some cities other than campus area and short north.

This is exactly true. Sure, campus is by far the densest part of Columbus and it is misleading. The majority of these people who live near campus live there because that's where they go every day. Additionally, most of them just walk across a street or two to get there. Would OSU students use a light rail system? No. Of course not. Everything is already right there. Oh but to go downtown, maybe once a week? Surely we have to invest 400 million for that! Well, no. They would probably sooner bike, or still just walk (it's not far) or take uber/lyft.

The city is just not a good place for any kind of rail. Some will be offended by this, but let them be so. I for one think that's one of the positive things about Columbus- that they've resisted the idiotic notion that all cities need streetcars because..... development. Columbus will be laughing in a decade or two when all the west coast cities and other streetcar obsessed places have to start cutting down on service or eliminating lines.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

30k around the campus... where are they getting on light rail to go?? Light rail is made outter city to inner city. jost places because of traffic. I dont see light rail going from downtown to easton. Its too far. I can see it maybe going up to Dublin but will prolly just be use during work days. Again also to the aiport but will be use for professional mainly. Columbus doesnt have a hard core center like some cities other than campus area and short north.

Why wouldn't people ride it to go to different parts of the city? Don't they do that with other forms of transit? Don't they do that with cars, bikes, buses, etc.?
Different types of rail serve different functions. Light rail is usually used within the city, and includes streetcars. Commuter rail usually serves outer suburbs with the inner city.
The route would serve Downtown-Easton would very likely connect to the airport, especially given that a multi-modal hub is planned with the new terminal. It's really not that far.

Here are potential routes that have been looked at recently. Densities are based on census block groups that the route would pass through.

Downtown-Airport-Easton
Route- Existing tracks from Downtown along 670 east and then north along Stelzer to Easton Way.
Route Length: 9.1 Miles
Lowest Density: 0 at the Airport
Highest Density: 3,624, just southwest of the Airport.
Average Density: 1,926.4
This route is the least dense of the 7 that I looked at, as it runs through industrial areas around the Airport, and Easton has yet to be significantly built up beyond the mall area.

Downtown-Airport
Route- Along East Broad Street and then north at James Road to Stelzer.
Route Length: 7 Miles
Lowest Density: 1,593
Highest Density: 10,882
Average Density: 5,013.8
This route would serve many more people, as it would run through Near East Side communities like OTE, King-Lincoln, Bexley and the far western edge of Whitehall.

Downtown-Southland Area
Route- Along South High Street to just north of 270.
Route Length: 6.3 Miles
Lowest Density: 816
Highest Density: 7,506
Average Density: 4,466.8
This route would serve German Village, Brewery District, Merion Village and other communities down to the Southland retail area.

Downtown-West Side
Route- Along West Broad to Hilliard-Rome Road
Route Length: 8.2 Miles
Lowest Density: 520
Highest Density: 11,693
Average Density: 5,752
This route would serve Franklinton, Hilltop, Lincoln Village and New Rome.

Downtown-Westerville
Route- Along Cleveland Avenue to Schrock Road
Route Length: 10.5 Miles
Lowest Density: 1,183
Highest Density: 9,938
Average Density: 4,748
This route would serve Linden, Minerva Park and Westerville.

Downtown-Dublin
Route- Roughly along Riverside Drive to Downtown Dublin.
Route Length: 12.2 Miles
Lowest Density: 1,595
Highest Density: 4,547
Average Density: 2795.1
This route would serve the Arena District, Grandview, Upper Arlington and Dublin. It is the 2nd least dense route I looked at.

High Street
Route- Along High Street south from Reeb-Hossack on the South Side to Wilson Bridge Road in Worthington.
Route Length: 12.6 Miles
Lowest Density: 1,183
Highest Density: 38,021
Average Density: 9,106.4
This route would serve all major High Street communities, including Merion Village, German Village, Brewery District, Downtown, Short North, Weinland Park, Campus, Old North Columbus, Clintonville and Worthington. It is the most dense route I looked at.

Broad Street
Route- Along Broad Street from Lincoln Village to Mt. Carmel East.
Route Length: 15.4 Miles
Lowest Density: 906
Highest Density: 11,693
Average Density: 5,450.2
This route would serve all West Side communities like Hilltop and Franklinton, Downtown, OTE, King-Lincoln, Bexley, Whitehall and part of the Far East Side.

4 of the 8 I looked at had average route densities exceeding 5,000, and this was for lengths of several miles for each one. Another 2 exceeded 4,000, and the last 2 were under 3,000. Of the 8 routes, 6 had growing populations overall along their routes even without TOD (Transit-Oriented Development), which would have a very high probability of bringing in greater population. At the very least, the top 4 are definitely reasonable.

[ayoskillz]

Columbus needs amtrak first. Giing east towards Pittsburgh and west connection to go to chicago would be nice. Even connected to cinn and Cleveland would work

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

Light rail from airport to downtown MAYBE will work but other than that columbus is too spread out for light rail to be efficient. I dont see anyone on a Saturday afternoon get on a train to go downtown while its quicker to just drive. Light rail is made for dense cities

The thing is maybe now it seems like the density doesn't warrant it, but in 20 years when Columbus has 1,000,000 people, there probably will be.
What happens were you're reactive not pro-active in Transit is the Red-Blue Connector in Boston, if they originally did it when they created the system it would have worked. Now its too late, with the sensitive lab equitment above its nearly impossible to bore a tunnel without disturbing the economy of the area significantly.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

The thing is maybe now it seems like the density doesn't warrant it, but in 20 years when Columbus has 1,000,000 people, there probably will be.
What happens were you're reactive not pro-active in Transit is the Red-Blue Connector in Boston, if they originally did it when they created the system it would have worked. Now its too late, with the sensitive lab equitment above its nearly impossible to bore a tunnel without disturbing the economy of the area significantly.

With 1 million, density in Columbus would be 4608/sq mile.

Compare that to Boston's current 13340/sq mile. Or even Cleveland's 5107/sq mile.

It just doesn't really make sense for Columbus.

I'm not against mass transit. I'm against awful mass transit that's inefficient and that nobody wants.

Allow companies like this to exist just makes way more sense for Columbus and other midwestern cities, including Cleveland and Cincinnati: Bridj

Beats forcing everyone to pay taxes to fund a streetcar that will inevitably be way more expensive than first estimated and that people will slowly stop using, if they use it at all.