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Durham and Orange leaders and GoTriangle are responsible for this. They are pointing the finger at Duke to avoid accountability.
Well, all of the above, except Duke does deserve some blame here too.
After getting the elevated route over Erwin, the only one of Duke's compiants that actually held water was the magnetic field issue.
Duke certainly could have done their homework and raised this issue eariler. Or, when they raised it, don't raise it as a "red flag" and as an excuse to stop the project, but rather as something to find a solution to.
But GoTriangle could have raised it earlier, too. The N&O article makes it clear that this is a well-known issue that has been seen elsewhere in the country. If GoTriangle wasn't aware of this, their consultants (who have worked on Light Rail elsewhere in the US) should have been. Had this come up earlier in the process, the easiest solution would have been to go "Wireless" in the Erwin Road corridor. Hybrid Light Rail Vehicles include batteries for running off-wire on part of their route. Remove the wires from the elevated route along Erwin and you have removed the magnetic field induced by current through the wire and solved the problem.
Durham and Orange leaders and GoTriangle are responsible for this. They are pointing the finger at Duke to avoid accountability.
Duke absolutely deserves part of the blame for this. They had years and years to basically just say "no we don't want the line near our hospital" instead of being all standoffish about if until the bitter end.
Well, all of the above, except Duke does deserve some blame here too.
After getting the elevated route over Erwin, the only one of Duke's compiants that actually held water was the magnetic field issue.
Duke certainly could have done their homework and raised this issue eariler. Or, when they raised it, don't raise it as a "red flag" and as an excuse to stop the project, but rather as something to find a solution to.
But GoTriangle could have raised it earlier, too. The N&O article makes it clear that this is a well-known issue that has been seen elsewhere in the country. If GoTriangle wasn't aware of this, their consultants (who have worked on Light Rail elsewhere in the US) should have been. Had this come up earlier in the process, the easiest solution would have been to go "Wireless" in the Erwin Road corridor. Hybrid Light Rail Vehicles include batteries for running off-wire on part of their route. Remove the wires from the elevated route along Erwin and you have removed the magnetic field induced by current through the wire and solved the problem.
This did come up earlier in the process. It was discussed publicly as early as 1999. What's really going on is despite talking about this for 3 decades, they didn't really get down to brass tacks until the legislature presented them with this deadline. Then we were suddenly faced with having to close Blackwell Street or build an expensive tunnel, the undesirable route down Erwin Rd, building the ROMF next to a retirement community and elementary school, and secure cooperation from notoriously uncooperative railroads etc. They've had their hair on fire trying to work out many difficult problems to meet the deadline and it just wasn't feasible.
Duke's responsibility is to its patients, grant writers, and researchers. It was told to go along by the deadline or else. With more time, I'm sure they could have addressed the issues, but with the deadline, Duke's hands were tied. It would have been irresponsible to move forward.
maybe Duke could see the future?
Duke did ESP studies back in the day.
quote:
Uber took down the taxi industry and now it wants a piece of public transit.
That has transportation and urban planning experts deeply worried.
link: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/25/t...ion/index.html
maybe Duke could see the future?
Duke did ESP studies back in the day.
quote:
Uber took down the taxi industry and now it wants a piece of public transit.
That has transportation and urban planning experts deeply worried.
link: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/25/t...ion/index.html
Doubtful, since that future looks pretty bleak:
"Transportation experts say that if Uber grabs a big chunk of its target market — 4.4 trillion passenger miles on public transportation in the 63 countries in which it operates — cities would grind to a halt, as there would literally be no space to move on streets."
Doesn't sound like a good way to get patients and employees to the hospital to me.
Anyway, when Uber starts actually making a profit let me know.
"Transportation experts say that if Uber grabs a big chunk of its target market — 4.4 trillion passenger miles on public transportation in the 63 countries in which it operates — cities would grind to a halt, as there would literally be no space to move on streets."
Doesn't sound like a good way to get patients and employees to the hospital to me.
Anyway, when Uber starts actually making a profit let me know.
It's almost like the urban planners and transportation experts were indeed worried... but for an entirely different reason than what the poster insinuated.
That's because startups are hiring cheap recent-grads and working them to the bone while dangling small amounts of equity in front of them. Younger recent college grads like to live in big cities, not suburbs.
I don't think we're really missing out on that front. Triangle is too spread out with too many employment centers. Any sort of rail would be a huge waste of money.
Duke shouldn't make the mistake the University of Maryland made when the Metro in DC was being built. They balked and said the College Park station would harm the visual appeal of the campus, etc. Metro ended up putting the station more than a mile from the center of campus. And the university has regretted it ever since seeing more of their student and faculty use the off-campus station than they thought.
Decades later, you now have a light rail line being built right through the heart of campus with a stop at the front steps of the student union. They are even moving the historical M circle to accommodate the line. Students and faculty are ecstatic.
Never underestimate the need and use of mass transit in a world and economy where fewer people are purchasing and maintaining cars - where people are turning down long commutes for more time with family, friends, and hobbies.
Cities with mass transit are leaving cities without it behind. Fuss about and fight light rail at your own peril.
Mass transit yes - but traditional old-timey light rail is dead as a doorknob in this area, hopefully. It's a dead horse, hopefully.
Better options to design and implement (much cheaper to build and maintain):
1. Bus Rapid Transit system - like Richmond and other cities. Not as sexy, but it works.
2. High-speed pod system: Futuristic transit system of high-speed pods gets a closer look in the Triangle Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/lo...#storylink=cpy
All major US cities with light rail & subway service still have the worst auto traffic problems, by far (NYC, DC, Atlanta etc). NYC is planning to implement metered auto traffic into certain areas of Manhattan.
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