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Nashville has a commuter train service called WeGo Star. But it's not much; only three trains each way during the AM and PM peak. I guess it's better than nothing, and I have no idea what its ridership is, but with such a flimsy level of service, it won't even make a dent in I-40 traffic congestion. If they could ramp up to service every 15 minutes or so, even if only during peak hours (plus a couple of midday trains), it might make a difference. And adding service southeast to Murfreesboro and south to Spring Hill would be a good thing. Also up to Hendersonville in the northeast, if tracks exist up that way.
But the OP asked about light rail or metro, neither of which WeGo Star is. With all the tourism that Nashville gets, I would think a line from the airport to downtown/Lower Broadway might make sense.
I personally think that airports to downtown should be an automatic starter line.
It adds a depth to any areas transit infrastructure. Being able to fly into a city and hit some cultural attractions or sporting events without having a car in a efficient way is priceless.
I was wondering if the existing streetcars count, in which case Detroit, Cincy, and KC already have them out of the cities listed, but I think they'll be expanded in the next 20 years. Also voted for Tampa and Orlando.
Yea, about half of these have some kind of rail transit system in operation, but none of them are of the fast and frequent variety that can serve as the backbone for a beefy transit network. I do think they all should have that, but I think there will need to be some kind of larger change in how we fund and build transit systems in the US.
I voted Kansas City, Detroit and Raleigh, each for different reasons.
The poll is specific to Light Rail as defined by the FTA. None of these 14 cities currently have that, although 6 of them have mixed-traffic streetcars (Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinatti, Tampa, Kansas City, Oklahoma City), 3 have commuter rail (using mainline/freight tracks; Providence, Nashville and Orlando) and 2 have other transit (Detroit People Mover, Las Vegas Monorail).
Detroit is the largest metro in the poll, and therefore has the largest potential demand if only the politics change in the next 20 years.
Raleigh has had multiple transit proposals that got close, so it seems likely that some plan will get approved in the next few decades (Nashville's transit proposal failure was more recent, and will take longer for another plan to approved).
Kansas City is currently building a major extension to its popular "starter" streetcar line. The line will straight and long enough that I predict it will be considered as "light rail" within 20 years. Transit mode is socially constructed as much as it is defined by physical infrastructure. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s Vancouver's Skytrain was universally considered light rail. Now, APTA classifies is as "Automated Guideway" and Google Maps uses the square metro "M" instead of the light rail symbol for stations. Philadelphia's subway/surface trolley system is classified by the FTA as a streetcar, while Boston's similar Green Line is light rail. Some changes to traffic lanes and signal proirity, along with public perception, could move either system to a different category.
I think Richmond has a pretty good chance. It's BRT line out performed expectations and is getting a second line added going North to South(the first line goes east to west). It probably would have already had one if that money wasn't wasted putting one in Norfolk for no reason.
Nashville is definitely out. The mayor proposed a 1 billion transit bill that includes upgrades to bus service and "sidewalks" over the next 30 years.
Yeah I agree, sadly to say. A few years ago Nashville area counties had the equivalent of something like the failed TSPLOST(for the Atlanta area, and if passed would've expanded transit funding) referendum on the ballot for Nashville area counties, and they voted it down. I'm surprised that Music City Star managed to start service as a commuter rail line, albeit with very limited service(where the schedule is about as limited as the Metra Heritage Corridor(Joliet, and NOT to be confused with Rock Island which has much more service), or at least barely more train runs than that like at Metra North Central Service(Antioch, IL) level) to Lebanon and back. When that began there also was discussion a 2nd line to Clarksville was being considered, but for reasons I never could figure out it didn't occur sadly. Should've considered commuter lines to Franklin and Murfreesboro, as well.
The Las Vegas urban area packs 2.2. million into a zone smaller than the city of Nashville.
Las Vegas's current bus ridership is on par with Miami, Oakland, Baltimore, indicating its a viable transit city.
Nonstop stream of car-less tourist arrivals from around the world from one of the top airports, UNLV, growing close in satellite cities like Henderson, etc.
Has to be a matter of time until they build something.
Of the cities listed I believe Tampa has the worst traffic congestion according to at least one study (TomTom) ranked #12 in the US for traffic congestion, ahead of Nashville. They were the only two in Top 50 from this list provided by the OP. Given Tampa's recent progressiveness with development (see Water Street) I would guess it's next in the 20-year plan for cities currently lacking here.
As far as I know, it’s been rejected by Tampa voters so I’m not optimistic about it even on a 20y horizon.
I voted Kansas City, Detroit and Raleigh, each for different reasons.
The poll is specific to Light Rail as defined by the FTA. None of these 14 cities currently have that, although 6 of them have mixed-traffic streetcars (Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinatti, Tampa, Kansas City, Oklahoma City), 3 have commuter rail (using mainline/freight tracks; Providence, Nashville and Orlando) and 2 have other transit (Detroit People Mover, Las Vegas Monorail).
Detroit is the largest metro in the poll, and therefore has the largest potential demand if only the politics change in the next 20 years.
Raleigh has had multiple transit proposals that got close, so it seems likely that some plan will get approved in the next few decades (Nashville's transit proposal failure was more recent, and will take longer for another plan to approved).
Kansas City is currently building a major extension to its popular "starter" streetcar line. The line will straight and long enough that I predict it will be considered as "light rail" within 20 years. Transit mode is socially constructed as much as it is defined by physical infrastructure. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s Vancouver's Skytrain was universally considered light rail. Now, APTA classifies is as "Automated Guideway" and Google Maps uses the square metro "M" instead of the light rail symbol for stations. Philadelphia's subway/surface trolley system is classified by the FTA as a streetcar, while Boston's similar Green Line is light rail. Some changes to traffic lanes and signal proirity, along with public perception, could move either system to a different category.
I can explain that one.
All but one of Boston's four Green Line branches operate entirely in reserved medians rather than mixed traffic once they surface, and the fourth operates in a reserved median for about half its surface length. In addition, one of the four operates entirely on a private ROW that had been a railroad line, and that gives it what I describe as "light metro" characteristics (as does the Ashmont-Mattapan extension of the Dorchester Red Line).
All five of Philadelphia's trolley subway routes operate in the middle of streets once they surface. That would make them streetcars.
The Las Vegas urban area packs 2.2. million into a zone smaller than the city of Nashville.
Las Vegas's current bus ridership is on par with Miami, Oakland, Baltimore, indicating its a viable transit city.
Nonstop stream of car-less tourist arrivals from around the world from one of the top airports, UNLV, growing close in satellite cities like Henderson, etc.
Has to be a matter of time until they build something.
The thing about Vegas is it's mostly the Strip which as a compact area, and the monorail is sufficient for getting around it. They might just need to expand it to the Luxor/Mandalay Bay, the Airport, Allegiant Stadium, and wherever the future Brightline station is going to be.
There are actually two short, free monorail services on the west side of the Strip, one of them going from the Mandalay Bay to the Excalibur (including a stop at the Luxor as well as another on the south side of the Excalibur), and another shorter one going from the Aria to the Bellagio. It's about a five minute walk going from the MGM Grand stop to the north Excalibur stop, and there are two skybridges that lead to it. That said, if they could at least expand that southern branch from the Mandalay Bay to Allegiant and/or the airport, it would become a much more useful system, and they could even build an overpass to connect the Excalibur to MGM Grand segment, especially if the Tropicana gets torn down.
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