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Why would you want a subway when you already have light rail? Subways require ultra-high population density to justify its astronomical cost, which Denver certainly does not have. Money would be better spent to expand the existing 47-miles of light rail - which is what they are doing, with the 23-mile airport extension from Union Station currently under construction.
Plus with the incredible views from many areas of Denver, who would want to be underground for their commute twice a day?
Plus with the incredible views from many areas of Denver, who would want to be underground for their commute twice a day?
And light rail is better for merchants and businesses, and arguably better for the local economy. Your customers can't see you when they're underground. Denver is one of my favorite places to visit because of the natural scenery and huge amount of urban bike trails. They seem to do a lot to encourage you to get out of your car and house and enjoy the outdoors and sunshine.
LA is stupid. What happens when the next major earthquake hits? Millions of people will probably die unnecessarily because they so desperately trying to make the wild west New York 2.
LA is stupid. What happens when the next major earthquake hits? Millions of people will probably die unnecessarily because they so desperately trying to make the wild west New York 2.
Subways can be built to handle earthquake. The tube is built to flex and move with the ground. The trains automatically stop to prevent damage. An earthquake will cause the system to go down, but so long as the tube holds and there are exits people should be fine.
Subways can be built to handle earthquake. The tube is built to flex and move with the ground. The trains automatically stop to prevent damage. An earthquake will cause the system to go down, but so long as the tube holds and there are exits people should be fine.
The Bay Area's BART did well in the 1989 quake. Elevated freeways did not, and the Bay Bridge was closed, leaving the subway the only open route into San Francisco from the east. Tokyo's system is probably well designed for an earthquake.
The Los Angeles subway system was already around for the 1994 Northridge quake. A list of a few other subways and quakes:
Highways are extremely expensive, yet no one complains about them. When alternative infrastructure is proposed it becomes a problem. We can pretend it has nothing to do with the oil nuts running the government.
Chicken and the egg. Subways are worthwhile in every city.
More subways. More bike infrastructure. Infrastructure is the backbone of economic growth. Infrastructure causes growth. Growth doesn't cause infrastructure. You have it backwards.
Subways are one the most expensive projects of them all. In terms of rail it is cheapest to run rail at ground level, more expensive to run it elevated on an bridge(like Chicago or New York's EL) and most expensive of all to run it Underground.
Some train systems like Chicago's EL take advantage of the highway so as to get an cheap right of way(Parts of the Blue and Red line). The highway provides an cheap right of way that wouldn't exist otherwise. This is also why light Rail Projects are often preferred. They are cheaper than the Rapid Transit/heavy rail of the EL because they can share the street with cars(The EL needs an dedicated right of way. It can cross the street at ground level, but it can't run in the street next to cars....it sometimes runs in an alley. Light rail on the other hand is built to work with traffic and either follows the lights or in some cases has an system that controls the lights giving the train and traffic in it's direction priority. ).
Subways are used pretty much when the value of the buildings that are in the way is greater than just tearing them down and there are no other options to put the train in. In Chicago the newest EL line was built in the 90ies but used an tiny part of the expressway and an old freight rail line right of way to get to Midway Airport. It was elevated.
The last subway built were two tiny bits of the blue line. One to take the blue line to the expressway and the other to take it under O'hare. The Kennedy Expressway carries the blue line to it's destination on one end and the Congress Expressway the other. There also was an tiny extension built to the State Street subway in the 80ies/90ies but it just allows the Red line to exit to the Dan Ryan expressway rather than the old south side mainline(which is now part of the Green line).
I think that's unusual for rapid transit systems. I don't think Boston's or NYC's do. Nor Washington DC.
It is rare for the EL as well and NOT preferred as it messes with traffic, but parts of the Pink line and parts of Brown line do it. The Yellow line kinda does it but it has it's own right of way like an railroad and isn't in the street. The end of the Green line used to do that as well but it was elevated in the 1960ies. The reason why it does that is because back then(before the automobile) the areas were so desperate for rail service that they allowed it to run at ground level despite it not being ideal from an traffic stand point. The yellow line on the other hand was formerly the route of an failed commuter/interurban line that got turned into an EL line as an experiment in the 60ies and worked well.
Last edited by chirack; 08-13-2014 at 09:55 PM..
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