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Old 02-05-2010, 10:28 AM
 
372 posts, read 1,114,970 times
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Old 02-05-2010, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Roanoke VA
2,032 posts, read 6,877,464 times
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Default Norfolk NOT Richmond?

Richmond should already have light rail, similar to Charlotte, plus streetcars in the downtown core. Richmond has fallen behind because of our states' lack of vision on transportation and the area being so divided. If Norfolk can have light rail, why not Richmond? The costs are getting greater now so maybe it may soon be out of reach.
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Old 02-05-2010, 12:50 PM
 
Location: 5 years in Southern Maryland, USA
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Houston TX, is the U.S.' 4th largest city, and even it does not have a subway.
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Old 02-05-2010, 01:06 PM
 
Location: Richmond, VA
1,799 posts, read 6,304,762 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roanoker 4 View Post
Richmond should already have light rail, similar to Charlotte, plus streetcars in the downtown core. Richmond has fallen behind because of our states' lack of vision on transportation and the area being so divided. If Norfolk can have light rail, why not Richmond? The costs are getting greater now so maybe it may soon be out of reach.
Take a look at state funding for highway construction/roads vs state funding for rail initiatives... it's pitiful. If the counties (mostly Chesterfield) didn't view public transit as a way to get poor people out to the suburbs to rob the rich people, then maybe we'd be further along as a region with a collective voice for transit.
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Old 02-05-2010, 04:09 PM
 
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Should be interesting to see.
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Old 02-05-2010, 05:46 PM
 
Location: Roanoke VA
2,032 posts, read 6,877,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by richmondpics View Post
Take a look at state funding for highway construction/roads vs state funding for rail initiatives... it's pitiful. If the counties (mostly Chesterfield) didn't view public transit as a way to get poor people out to the suburbs to rob the rich people, then maybe we'd be further along as a region with a collective voice for transit.
I think you said that perfectly! With the long range uncertainty of the U.S. economy now I cannot see how the state/fed govt will spend massive amounts of money on highway construction. If that is the case then isn't rail a good alternative? I know its mostly politics and not common sense when the issue is brought up. Most of our VA legislators are paid off by the powerful highway & home building interests in this state. Its just like the destruction that is going on at the federal level in DC. I read somewhere where Vietnam is planning one of the worlds' fastest high speed trains!!!
Heck, Roanoke can't even get a meesely train to DC!!
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Old 02-05-2010, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
743 posts, read 3,894,430 times
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I read that the $75 million is being used to relieve a bottle neck in the tracks around Stafford/Prince William county.

Unless gas gets over $5/gallon or there becomes real traffic problems around Richmond... I don't see any kind of subway or light rail system being built. Maaaaybe some kind of system within downtown, but nothing reaching into the sub-urbs.
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Old 02-05-2010, 09:53 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,578,707 times
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I lived in Richmond - Chesterfield County, in Brandermill (?) from 95-99.

Richmond is going to have become a *lot* less racially polarized for transit to even have serious consideration - in any of its forms - as a viable alternative to driving. As it stands now, transit in Richmond is transportation for the poor, not for suburbanites who may work downtown.

Light rail - for it to really make sense - you have to have incentives to develop the land around the stations and to develop it at a higher density. Sacramento has had light rail for 20+ years, and its been a colossal failure. Expensive to operate, it goes to a downtown that has been abandoned except for the govt and some banks, and it functions - except during the rush hours - as free gangbanger and Section 8 refuse to work transportation. They sit on it all day, do drug deals and make it generally impossible for average folks that might want to ride the light rail to get on and feel safe (security SUCKS).

Transit in this country, outside of a few megacities, is a failure and huge waste of money. Its not going to put a dent in traffic congestion, and as to the greenhouse gas nonsense, even tiny improvements in car efficiency will wipe out any potential savings you get from pouring billions into transit and higher density living.
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Old 02-05-2010, 09:56 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,578,707 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roanoker 4 View Post
I think you said that perfectly! With the long range uncertainty of the U.S. economy now I cannot see how the state/fed govt will spend massive amounts of money on highway construction. If that is the case then isn't rail a good alternative? I know its mostly politics and not common sense when the issue is brought up. Most of our VA legislators are paid off by the powerful highway & home building interests in this state. Its just like the destruction that is going on at the federal level in DC. I read somewhere where Vietnam is planning one of the worlds' fastest high speed trains!!!
Heck, Roanoke can't even get a meesely train to DC!!
People need mobility once they get at the other end of a rail system. Our world is no longer downtown-centric, and buses and rail suck as a ways to move people around.

We've spent trillions in infrastructure and the land use patterns we have today. Spending a few billion here and there isn't going to change travel behavior all that much - its like poking an elephant in the butt with a toothpick and expecting it to stampede. More likely, you'll end up being sit on.

Any attempts to get Americans on mass transit/rail are simply doomed to failure as I pointed out in my previous post. Long before gas gets to 5, 6, 7 dollars a gallon, we will have vastly more efficient cars that will be far greener and we've already built a huge highway network. Why do we need rail? Its an ideological/political agenda rather than an agenda of simple common sense.
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Old 02-06-2010, 06:46 AM
 
Location: Roanoke VA
2,032 posts, read 6,877,464 times
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It is true Americans will have to be jolted out of their gas guzzlers and alter their behaviors before they realize gas is in finite supply. The idea of driving electric cars/hybrids or even "flying cars" is not on the horizon soon, in my opinion. There was no planning when Northern VA was thought up or even the sprawling Richmond suburbs with their endless strip shopping centers. I think the driving force for people to escape the central city was racism and safety fears. The heart of a city is its downtown core. There are many cities in the U.S. which are more successful in getting people to work and live downtown and I believe Richmond is attracting the affluent to re:think their mindset that the suburbs are not for everyone. Of course, all of this requires
"socialist" planning and while we debate its merits our competitors in the rest of world have already "been there, done that". We can't stay competitive as a nation if we are stuck in traffic.
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