Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,749 posts, read 23,813,296 times
Reputation: 14660
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc
San Antonio and maybe Raleigh are my other picks to start rail up.
Where would light rail service in Raleigh go and what nodes would it serve? It's got a pretty light weight downtown and the layout of the area isn't very conducive to mass transit as its a very spread out area. The only concept I could think of is the development of a regional commuter rail line that connects UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, Downtown Durham, RTP, and Downtown Raleigh. Start with that, and then perhaps light rail or in city transit as the city infills more. Though I really don't anticipate serious rail transit developments in that area in the 2020's.
If you're ranking by dollars spent on rail and subway infrastructure, the cities that already have extensive rail will be spending the most to catch up on all the deferred maintenance. NYC, Chicago, Boston, DC, probably Philly. LA and SF will see big money spent. Nobody else is close. Those are the cities that drive the US economy. People can't get to work. There's no choice but to fix rail since there's no way to add roads.
Where would light rail service in Raleigh go and what nodes would it serve? It's got a pretty light weight downtown and the layout of the area isn't very conducive to mass transit as its a very spread out area. The only concept I could think of is the development of a regional commuter rail line that connects UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, Downtown Durham, RTP, and Downtown Raleigh. Start with that, and then perhaps light rail or in city transit as the city infills more. Though I really don't anticipate serious rail transit developments in that area in the 2020's.
It wouldn't go anywhere lol. Raleighites don't want light rail, and like you said, there is really nowhere interesting to go in the city, you'd have to leave to go to Durham and Orange and that would be commuter rail. I guess theoretically, you could have a 6-mile starter line that connects Downtown and burgeoning North Hills, that may work. Or a 4-mile line to State. But you have to understand how terrible the infrastructure is along both of those routes, and the lack of demand for rail transit...
It seems that once a city builds something like a supertall skyscraper, the odds are pretty good that they'll build more of them. Conversely, those that don't have them just don't seem likely to build one. Somewhat of a "the rich get richer" scenario.
Metro rail is similar. Even for the cities that have the smallest systems with the smallest ridership numbers, expansion of that system seems at least somewhat likely. The cities that don't have anything don't seem likely to get one.
This poll includes very diverse choices-a vast metro that could probably support heavy rail, a growing legacy metro that recently build a small streetcar, metros with commuter rail but no interurban rail, and one of America's largest cities
***By "Metro rail", I mean any multiple line interurban rail system, light or heavy.***
Looks like this poll was spot on, Austin on track to start on $7.1 billion system, including a downtown subway:
This link says a key is seeking Federal funds. Where is Texas financing coming? Taxes raised for it with a even Dallas/Houston rail still even more unlikely. Will Texans vote for something to raise taxes? A Republican Administration would not or Congress. Maybe a Pork fund added? We get only Dems do Pork. A Democrat Adimistration is the only posibility. No Republican Congress and now this more trillions $$$ of a Fed deficit means still little chance.
Under Obama a few cities got matching funds. For projects LA did and Chicago. Not sure if others? Them cities sought it in the last days of the Obama era. Matching funding meant, these cities needed to raise taxes $$$ for a project plans to gain funding for the Feds to match. This was how it was.
This is like most grand ideas. Plan then need the Feds to come thru. Bad era for it now. Mostly my opinion.
With the Sunbelt giving so many breaks and incentives to lure Corporate relocations from the North still and West Coast. Few of us up North want to finance this booming Sunbelt to any large degree. Who knows when the next hurricane hits and Fed $$$ need to flow.
You can bet most Texans do NOT want to finance new NYC subway and EL repairs and anything new.... or other Northern cities. They did not even want to finance the hurricane damages up the Northeast a decade ago. They Texas got socked and another story ....
This link says a key is seeking Federal funds. Where is Texas financing coming? Taxes raised for it with a even Dallas/Houston rail still even more unlikely. Will Texans vote for something to raise taxes? A Republican Administration would not or Congress. Maybe a Pork fund added? We get only Dems do Pork. A Democrat Adimistration is the only posibility. No Republican Congress and now this more trillions $$$ of a Fed deficit means still little chance.
Under Obama a few cities got matching funds. For projects LA did and Chicago. Not sure if others? Them cities sought it in the last days of the Obama era. Matching funding meant, these cities needed to raise taxes $$$ for a project plans to gain funding for the Feds to match. This was how it was.
This is like most grand ideas. Plan then need the Feds to come thru. Bad era for it now. Mostly my opinion.
With the Sunbelt giving so many breaks and incentives to lure Corporate relocations from the North still and West Coast. Few of us up North want to finance this booming Sunbelt to any large degree. Who knows when the next hurricane hits and Fed $$$ need to flow.
You can bet most Texans do NOT want to finance new NYC subway and EL repairs and anything new.... or other Northern cities. They did not even want to finance the hurricane damages up the Northeast a decade ago. They Texas got socked and another story ....
The bond was passed by voters already. The city is moving forward. I know people who work for Cap Metro here and they say the "subway" downtown, and the rail should be done by 2028. From what I understand from the person who works there, the match was pretty much secured with the approval of the bond.
The bond was passed by voters already. The city is moving forward. I know people who work for Cap Metro here and they say the "subway" downtown, and the rail should be done by 2028. From what I understand from the person who works there, the match was pretty much secured with the approval of the bond.
So I'm assuming "downtown subway" just means what it means in places like Pittsburgh, where the LRT goes underground downtown.
At any rate, I said Austin wouldn't be able to do this, and I am very happy to have been proven wrong!
A subway is expensive anywhere, but my understanding is that it's not especially so in Austin. The system won't work without separate right of way, and achieving that without a subway means either taking away a lane from cars (politically expensive) or an elevated system. The subway also saves real estate costs by putting the station underground.
The LRT vs BRT decision will be interesting. I honestly think BRT is probably the smarter play in 2019. Smaller self-driving vehicles with a very high frequency would be more convenient than larger less-frequent trains. It's also a lot easier to scale and expand, and probably less maintenance (not to mention way cheaper to build).
However, at the ballot box BRT looks like the same old slow buses that are stuck in traffic. So I wouldn't be shocked to see them go with LRT just try to maximize the chance of it passing.
The hope is that 2020 brings out a transit-friendly demographic that wants to vote against Trump.
It pretty much went down exactly as I suspected. They did go with LRT, even though autonomous BRT is probably a little smarter. And the 2020 voting demographic was in fact transit friendly.
What I didn't know at that time was how COVID was about to play out! I'm glad that didn't derail things and can't wait to see this get built.
So I'm assuming "downtown subway" just means what it means in places like Pittsburgh, where the LRT goes underground downtown.
At any rate, I said Austin wouldn't be able to do this, and I am very happy to have been proven wrong!
Yup exactly that. It will be an underground station/transit hub for rail, with some storefronts and such. It will actually be very nice! There will still be a need for more rail in the future after all of these lines are done, but these new lines are a great start and will really reduce the necessity for a car in inner Austin.
It wouldn't go anywhere lol. Raleighites don't want light rail, and like you said, there is really nowhere interesting to go in the city, you'd have to leave to go to Durham and Orange and that would be commuter rail. I guess theoretically, you could have a 6-mile starter line that connects Downtown and burgeoning North Hills, that may work. Or a 4-mile line to State. But you have to understand how terrible the infrastructure is along both of those routes, and the lack of demand for rail transit...
I agree and as a former long-term resident of the Triangle feel it's geography is still by/large too separated. Outside of the RTP campus there's little back and forth traffic between Raleigh or Durham beyond whatever occurs with the airport (RDU). A Durham-Chapel Hill light rail connection along US15-501 from Fordham Blvd in Chapel Hill to Erwin Rd in Durham connects four of the largest employers in region (UNC, UNC Hospitals, Duke U and Duke U Med Center) with over 40K employees. It's also an area populated with residents more likely to utilize public transit to begin with than the Raleigh-Cary side of the Triangle. The only issue, probably regional funding if considered one region, however the two sides splits as MSAs several years ago so perhaps...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
