What are your thoughts on the trolley? (Savannah: how much, construction)

[lilmusket]

Has anyone else been keeping up with the news of a possible downtown trolley light rail transit system? What are your thoughts? There was an article in the paper that talked about the exploratopry committee travelling to Little Rock to see how their downtown light rail system has been able to attract $400 million in new investment in the downtown area.. apparantly the committee was extremely impressed and they believe after talking with Littloe Rock leaders, that Augusta could possibly duplicate their success. They left Little Rock more optimistic than ever about the chances of a trolley in downtown Augusta. The next step is a feasibilty study. I am cautiously optimitistic. I think this would be a great boost for downtown, especially if it links downtown Augusta with North Augusta.. and I think that is part of the plan.. as well as making a loop through MCG. I guess the big question is the costs.. is it within reach financially, and how much will it cost to run? Maybe a good way to start is to have trolley busses make loops along the routes being planned for light rail.. maybe start it off on friday and saturdays.. debut it on afirst friday.. and see what the interest is. If it seems to be successful, then it can be expanded into a light rail system. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[thedudewiththeplan]

Sounds good to me!

[Augustabuckeye]

In theory it sounds good...

However, where would they run the rails? Down the center of Broad St?Taking out all of the islnds and trees? Or run it down one of the lanes so that we'd have to deal with poor road to rail interfaces (much like where the RR tracks cross Broad on 6th)?

And did anyone take a look at what it would take to cross the Savannah River? Using the 13th Street Bridge? Seems like that could be a problem structrually...

Lilmusket - I agree with your idea about running a bus on the circuit. Let me add something, Run an open air trolley car/bus on the circuit. No rails, no long term construction project. I bet you could have it running by this First Friday.

Much cheaper than a $25M+ project.

[The Magician]

I'll be honest. I'm for the trolley! But, there isn't enough foot traffic downtown to warrant one. Once Deke gets the ballpark built, then it will be a different story.

[lilmusket]

Little Rock said they did not build their trolley initially to fulfill ridership needs, but rather as an economic development tool.. it was essentially the catalyst for nearly $400 million in new devt in downtown.. once the devt came in.. then there was ridership.. I guess its sort of the old chicken and egg question. I think Augusta has to think of what it wants to be like in 10 to 20 years instead of always thinking status quo and figuring out reasons why things can't be done. one lane of traffic both directions is enough on Broad street. It does not need to have 4 lanes. I would imagine the tracks could be run down the inner lanes.. Get rid of the parking pits.. bring the median area up to street level and have pedestrian concourses down the middle (where the parking pits used to be).. people can board the trolley from the median concourse. I would imagine that the 13th street bridge would need to be widened to accomodate tracks going to North Augusta.. that could be tied in with an overall beautification of the 13th street bridge.. it could be a landmark in and of itself and make a nice entryway into downtown.

[All4Augusta]

waste of money