I have thought about the idea of light-rail and other rail-based mass transit systems in Rochester a lot lately. Why? I'm not totally sure...but it probably has to do with all my visits to other (more progressive) cities, even some Rochester-sized, that have very efficient subway/rail systems in place that are highly convenient. And personally, I want to be optimistic. I WANT to see Rochester succeed. I want to be able to take people downtown and actually see other people walking around and enjoying themselves. I want to be proud of the city (not the area) of Rochester. But after these thoughts subside, the legitimate concerns begin...
The main problem that Rochester (and many other cities in the US similar to Rochester) face when questioning whether to implement a commuter rail system (or a light-rail system) is determining if it'd ultimately work and be worth the investment. There's a definite "chicken or the egg" problem, so to speak. You need a heavily developed city core to make a dedicated rail system work. And once you have rail system, it's true that they DO spur and encourage dense growth. However, how do you get one without the other? You can't spur growth along a proposed line without a dense inner core. And you can't get a dense inner core without spurring growth somehow. And thus, this is really the conundrum that the city has faced for quite some time: an inability to spur any consistent smart growth. Yes, there are many complex reasons for this (many political agendas, a lack of proper leadership for example), but I'd like to focus on just the structure and physical set up of the region as one.
Some would say (and I'd agree) that building such a system would go a long way to helping bring the population back to the city. And this is mostly because Rochester as a metro area is NOT as small as the inner core would have you believe. This misleading perception is mostly because the area is VERY spread out (I'd argue far too spread out, and I'm sure most would agree to some extent). If even a small percentage of that population moved closer to the city, Rochester would actually feel like a city the size of its metro (because right now, when you're downtown, Rochester does NOT feel like an area that has over 1 Million people). So, the population is there...
But, again, when we come back to reality, we have to deal with the real issues. First, how would it get built? Even if it's possible to build a commuter rail/light-rail line cheaply in Rochester (which it would be if planned well), someone still has to pay for it. And even when utilizing these cheap plans, it'd still cost millions of dollars to implement. This is not chump change, and when people who are used to driving cars see something like "light-rail proposal for X million dollars" of course they're going to vote it down! The majority of the people in the Rochester area have no legitimate reason to say "yes." And, (even more telling) most would probably say "no" even if they knew that building a rail system, while very expensive, would cost close to the amount of widening 490 1 lane in each direction (I need a citation for this, I know, but I remember reading it...I'll look into finding it). Why would they still say no? Well, widening 490 would build more infrastructure for a method of transportation that the we all use: cars. There's no guarantee a rail system would work because I'd imagine most wouldn't want to use it. Why is this? Well...
Rochester as an area made a choice in the 1950's. They shut down the light-rail system, took away its right-of-way and built freeways in its place. Growth was encouraged out of the city, not into the city (and still is), and as a result whatever centralized feeling was around then slowly disappeared. The city lost much of its appeal as a destination or a place to "go for the day." This of course is not unique to Rochester. Many cities have felt the effects of the exodus to the suburbs. However, Rochester is definitely one of the worst cities for sprawl, especially when looking at cities in its size range (again, I remember reading it, I can look that up).
We love our cars (I'll admit I love the freedom of the car!) and quite frankly there's no real reason we need any rail system. There's no centralized core, and people work all over the place (just look at the traffic flow in the morning...some of the worst jams are at the exits to get to UofR/Strong Hospital, certainly not in the center of the city). The sad truth is that Rochester COULD have been a different city had it been planned differently. It could have been a dense city in which people were encouraged to go into the city (for something other than a few Amerks games and awesome BBQ at Dinosaur). It could have been pedestrian friendly. It COULD have been many things...but the sad reality is it just isn't. It is a car city, and trying to change that now would require far more than the funds to build a system. To make such a system even remotely feasible and realistic, you'd need a massive overhaul of how (and where) we live.
I look at this map (
http://www.rochestersubway.com/roche...y_map_2008.php) of what could have been, and it excites me. I go to Boston a lot, and one of the things I love most is that fact that I can go literally anywhere in the immediate Boston area without a car. All on a fast and reliable rail line. Buses are great because the infrastructure is needed; but there's something to be said of a city that has (and NEEDS) a dedicated rail system. Rochester in its current state just is not in the category...and will probably never be.
But, I still love the area (even if I'm not staying here much longer)...and I do really like some of the suburbs (guess I'm part of the problem)! I'm trying to be optimistic. I just want to see the area do well! We can all agree with that, right?????
Maybe when gas is 20 dollars a gallon, we'll all rethink this...maybe...
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