Mass Transit in your city (Rail) (map, metro, Baltimore, downtown)

[tenken627]

I'm interested in hearing about additions of rail (light, rapid, subway, anything) in cities, whether it is a totally new system or expansions to an existing one.

In your city, are there plans to create, expand, or upgrade their mass rail transit systems? If so, what area of the city will it service? When will it be done? Where will the stations be located? And when completed, how much of an impact do you think it will have on the accessibility and congestion within your city?

If there are no plans, do you feel that your city needs a system or needs to upgrade/expand their current system?

[Minnehahapolitan]

MINNEAPOLIS
Existing
Downtown Mpls. to Airport and Mall of America via Hiawatha
Pipeline
Downtown Mpls. to Downtown Saint Paul and the Univ. of Minn. via University
Downtown Mpls. to Eden Prairie, Saint Louis Park and Hopkins via Excelsior.
Long Pipeline
Streetcars on Hennepin, Nicollet, Chicago and Wash. Aves.

[lammius]

In the New York region:

Under Construction:
2nd Avenue Subway

In the Pipeline:
Long Island Railroad connection to Grand Central
Metro-North connection to new Penn Station
"Access to the Region's Core" tunnel under the Hudson for NJ Transit and Amtrak
7 Subway extension to Hudson Yards
New transit hubs at World Trade, Moynihan Station, Penn Station
Extension of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to Tenafly

Pipe Dreams (or at least might as well be):
Express rail from Lower Manhattan to JFK
Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link
Freight rail tunnel from Bayonne, NJ to Brooklyn
Rail component over new Tappan-Zee span (and possibly up to Stewart Int'l Airport)

[TXTwizter]

DALLAS,

DART.org - Expansion Information

[jonjj]

Maryland Transit Administration (http://www.mtamaryland.com/projects/ - broken link)

Baltimore now has one subway line and one light rail line along with commuter lines to and from DC. The above link is for projects pending. But, the state of Maryland is now in the red and so I don't see anything happening until the budget improves.

[GreenOR]

Portland, OR:
Red Line: Beaverton to Airport by way of downtown
Blue Line Hillsboro to Gresham by way of downtown
Yellow Line: City Center

In Construction right now:
Green Line: Portland State University to Clackamas Town Center
Orange Line: Union State to Milwaukee

Proposed:
Line from downtown to Tigard/Lake Oswego

The real question is: how many people actually ride public transportation where you live? I did, and I loved it.

[scarletneon]

here in Chicago we just dream about the day that we can keep our existing system running and have it go faster than 20 mph (at least where I live). Expansion? Probably not in my lifetime. Or ever, really.

savechicagolandtransit.com | Fund Chicagoland transit!
here's what we're dealing with.

at least here's a little humor about the situation:
CTA Doomsday Card on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/psmith/1830302019/ - broken link)
of course the card now needs to be changed to Jan. 20, 2008.

[tenken627]

Thanks for all the responses. It's interesting looking at maps of areas where expansion will be taking place.

I'm surprised at the dire situations that all of Chicago's systems are in (CTA, Metra, Pace). Underfunding and mismanaged resources seem to plague all American rail transit systems, but your link portrays Chicago's systems in a state of near melt-down.

[rah]

For San Francisco, the T-Line was just added. It replaces the 15 bus-line, and goes south, from the Embarcadero down the waterfront along 3rd street, stopping in Visitacion Valley, right at the Daly City border.

There are also plans to build the Central Subway, which would start around the Cal Train station at 4th and King streets (i beleive that's where it was...), and go north, crossing the existing subway at Powell station, and extending into Chinatown.

Also, there's the California high speed rail project, which if it goes underway, will come up the Peninsula into SF, tunneling underground, and end at the new Transbay Terminal, downtown.

[AVMan]

Here in Los Angeles, we have:

The Red Line (Subway): Union Station (Downtown) to North Hollywood
The Purple Line (Subway): Union Station to Mid-Wilshire
The Blue Line (Light Rail): Downtown to Long Beach
The Green Line (Light Rail): Norwalk to Redondo Beach, mostly in the median of I-105
The Gold Line (Light Rail): Union Station to Pasadena/Sierra Madre
The Orange Line (Dedicated Busway): North Hollywood to Woodland Hills

Routes Under Construction:
The Gold Line extension (Light Rail): Union Station to East L.A.
The Expo Line (Light Rail): Downtown to Culver City

Routes Planned but not yet started:
The Purple Line Extension ("Subway to the Sea"): Mid-Wilshire to Santa Monica
The Expo Line Extension (Light Rail): Culver City to Santa Monica

Here's a map:
http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/rail_map_future.pdf (broken link)

We also have an extensive MetroLink system, which is the Commuter Train system in Southern California. Here's a map of that:

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/docum...trolinkMap.pdf

LA has a pretty poor reputation when it comes to public transport, but in reality the system is fairly extensive, and continues to grow.