Getting to U-District will get easier way sooner than expected

 

Not only does Sound Transit expect its major light rail extension to be more than $100 million under budget, it also says the project will be finished by March — six months ahead of schedule.

 

 

A great example of a well-run government transit project. Meanwhile, Washington State DOT's massive highway tunnel under Downtown Seattle is three years behind schedule and probably hundreds of millions over budget -- so far.

 

Gee, I wonder where the excess from the rail project will be used??

Since the residents of Seattle have passed multiple ballot issues providing funding for transit, hopefully that leftover money will be applied to future phases of their light rail & BRT system. I would think Sound Transit gets to keep that money.

I just got back from Atlanta, and while the city was as underwhelming as I expected, I've got to admit MARTA blows BART out of the water. It is way cleaner, way safer, and way more reliable than BART. MARTA also has much closer station spacings and is more urban-focused than BART. Basically, everything about it is superior to BART for a fraction of the cost. There also is no pay-by-mile system trying to keep poor people out of the city. I'm shocked more people don't ride MARTA in Atlanta. Granted, Atlanta traffic is nothing compared to the Bay these days, but it still is much worse than most American cities. Of the post-WW2 heavy rail systems in America, MARTA is second to the Washington DC Metro. It has a lot more urban stations than BART, and the airport connection is simply outstanding. I'd actually say Atlanta has the best air to rail connection in the entire United States.

 

But why the hell were the trains so empty? Atlanta built an extensive 4-line, 38-station heavy rail system, and hardly anybody was using it. Even during rush hour, there were still seats available downtown! It was in direct contrast to BART and Muni where everything during rush times is crush load.

 

Their streetcar had even lower ridership. I literally watched that thing roll by me completely empty. It was a cute streetcar too (looked like it was from Portland).

 

Do people in Atlanta hate mass transit or something? Yet even though they hate it, they continually vote for it? There seems to be some weird political disconnect happening in Atlanta.

 

And the bigger question is how did Atlanta get all of this mass transit built while older, more urban cities in the Rust Belt have nothing? One doesn't think of the South as progressive, but Atlanta really built a ton of transit for a city its size. Keep in mind it's half the size of San Francisco, about the same size as Oakland, and has about twice as many urban train stations as the Bay. San Francisco is magnitudes denser than Atlanta. Oakland is much denser too. Low density Atlanta managed to do what cities with double and quadruple its density couldn't do.

 

*Overall, Atlanta's culture was really weird and filled with juxtapositions. It actually didn't feel very southern. Ghetto aspects of it seemed to have similarities with the Midwest, and the southern accent was weak there. I got the impression it was flooded with northern transplants judging by some of the accents I was hearing. Maybe some northerners bring transit culture with them, but since ATL is so cheap, they decide to drive instead? Atlanta also seemed to have really bad inequality (nowhere near Oakland's level, but still pretty horrible), so maybe mass transit is considered for "poor people?" I was shocked by how many people I met who said they had never ridden MARTA before.

 

**Why does Atlanta's mass transit beat the living crap out of every single Midwestern city except Chicago? Historically speaking, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc. were all much bigger and much denser than Atlanta.

 

And could this mass transit be a reason why Atlanta has retained more of its corporate base downtown? I will give credit to Atlanta for having a lot of corporate HQ's within walking distance of MARTA stations. The downtown is not as lively as it should be given its size and the presence of heavy/light rail, but it seems economically viable due to all of the corporate offices. Compared to Oakland, it was really safe, clean, and friendly too.

 

Due its transit, I could really see Atlanta booming with millennials...

 

Cities that think Uber is enough for millennials are nuts. Nothing beats the speed, reliability, and cost savings of heavy rail (with light rail coming in second). Uber cuts down on drunk driving and is good for nightlife in cities with early last trains, but it can't do what mass transit can do. Atlanta built a whole new streetcar well after Uber was established, and I suspect it's meant to appeal to millennials. It seemed like a ripoff of a Portland streetcar line, and Portland is still gaining millennial transplants.

I just got back from Atlanta, and while the city was as underwhelming as I expected, I've got to admit MARTA blows BART out of the water. It is way cleaner, way safer, and way more reliable than BART. MARTA also has much closer station spacings and is more urban-focused than BART. Basically, everything about it is superior to BART for a fraction of the cost. There also is no pay-by-mile system trying to keep poor people out of the city. I'm shocked more people don't ride MARTA in Atlanta. Granted, Atlanta traffic is nothing compared to the Bay these days, but it still is much worse than most American cities. Of the post-WW2 heavy rail systems in America, MARTA is second to the Washington DC Metro. It has a lot more urban stations than BART, and the airport connection is simply outstanding. I'd actually say Atlanta has the best air to rail connection in the entire United States.

 

But why the hell were the trains so empty? Atlanta built an extensive 4-line, 38-station heavy rail system, and hardly anybody was using it. Even during rush hour, there were still seats available downtown! It was in direct contrast to BART and Muni where everything during rush times is crush load.

 

Their streetcar had even lower ridership. I literally watched that thing roll by me completely empty. It was a cute streetcar too (looked like it was from Portland).

 

Do people in Atlanta hate mass transit or something? Yet even though they hate it, they continually vote for it? There seems to be some weird political disconnect happening in Atlanta.

 

And the bigger question is how did Atlanta get all of this mass transit built while older, more urban cities in the Rust Belt have nothing? One doesn't think of the South as progressive, but Atlanta really built a ton of transit for a city its size. Keep in mind it's half the size of San Francisco, about the same size as Oakland, and has about twice as many urban train stations as the Bay. San Francisco is magnitudes denser than Atlanta. Oakland is much denser too. Low density Atlanta managed to do what cities with double and quadruple its density couldn't do.

 

*Overall, Atlanta's culture was really weird and filled with juxtapositions. It actually didn't feel very southern. Ghetto aspects of it seemed to have similarities with the Midwest, and the southern accent was weak there. I got the impression it was flooded with northern transplants judging by some of the accents I was hearing. Maybe some northerners bring transit culture with them, but since ATL is so cheap, they decide to drive instead? Atlanta also seemed to have really bad inequality (nowhere near Oakland's level, but still pretty horrible), so maybe mass transit is considered for "poor people?" I was shocked by how many people I met who said they had never ridden MARTA before.

 

**Why does Atlanta's mass transit beat the living crap out of every single Midwestern city except Chicago? Historically speaking, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc. were all much bigger and much denser than Atlanta.

 

And could this mass transit be a reason why Atlanta has retained more its corporate base downtown? I will give credit to Atlanta for having a lot of corporate HQ's within walking distance of MARTA stations. The downtown is not as lively as it should be given its size and the presence of heavy/light rail, but it seems economically viable due to all the corporate offices. Compared to Oakland, it was really safe, clean, and friendly too.

 

Due to all its transit, I could really see Atlanta booming with millennials...

 

Cities that think Uber is enough for millennials are nuts. Nothing beats the speed, reliability, and cost savings of heavy rail (with light rail coming in second). Uber cuts down on drunk driving and is good for nightlife in cities with early last trains, but it can't do what mass transit can do. Atlanta built a whole new streetcar well after Uber was established, and I suspect it's meant to appeal to millennials. It seemed like a ripoff of a Portland streetcar line, and Portland is still gaining millennial transplants.

 

I wrote this article about how Atlanta received all of that federal funding for MARTA almost by chance in the early 1970s, ahead of many more-deserving peer cities:

http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/02/cincinnati-missed-on-huge-opportunity-with-urban-mass-transit-act-of-1970/

 

The state of Georgia does not and seemingly will never provide even 1 cent of funding for MARTA.  It is funded entirely by just two counties (by contrast, Baltimore's contemporaneous rapid transit line is supported *entirely* by the state of Maryland).  That's why it hasn't expanded deep into the suburbs.  Also, its traditional high-platform rapid transit format is *much* more expensive to build than is light rail.  Every overpass uses much more concrete and steel than light rail. 

 

I agree that the Peachtree St. subway had a huge effect on attracting office towers to DT Atlanta as opposed to the suburbs.  It also dictated the way that Midtown developed in a strip.  Also, that airport station is probably the most convenient rapid transit connection in the country.  Portland and Seattle's light rail stations at their respective airports might be similarly convenient. 

Hadn't been on MARTA, but Portland's Airport station was weird, I had to transfer at another station to get downtown.  Maybe it was the time I took the train I'm not sure.

 

Seattle isn't too bad, though Seattles best asset IMO is their bus system which has a lot of frequently running express routes.  It almost makes the bus useful.

^^Portland and Seattle do have decent light rail connections, but travel times are much longer. PDX's line to downtown from the airport is mostly grade-separated, so it moves pretty fast, though there is a street-running portion starting at the east side of Downtown. It takes 40-45 minutes to get downtown from PDX. Headways are about every 15 minutes, so the trip can take an hour total. Uber is faster, even in traffic. Seattle's Link light rail is about 35 minutes from SEA to Pioneer Square. Headways are every 5-15 minutes. Seattle's traffic is much worse, so light rail can beat Uber. Seattle's connection is faster than Portland's, but not by much. It just makes more sense since Seattle traffic sucks.

 

In Atlanta, it's under 20 minutes from ATL to Peachtree Plaza on MARTA, with really short headways (every 5 minutes when I was there since multiple lines hit the airport). And Atlanta gets serious bonus points for not charging an airport surcharge! I think I paid like $2.50, so hella cheap. The total trip is only 25 minutes if you have to wait for a train, so I think this is the fastest connection in America. SFO and OAK are over 30 minutes from Montgomery Street/Powell Street on BART, and have much longer headways. Trains are every 15-20 minutes at SFO, and about every 5 minutes at OAK, with a transfer to other lines afterwards from OAK that takes about 5-15 minutes. So total trip from SFO or OAK is about 45 minutes if you have to wait for a train. Cost is high since BART gouges you. It's about $9-10 from either airport. Of course this generally beats Uber since freeways are nuts in the Bay. Unless you're landing after 7pm, it makes sense to take the trains. Luckily, traffic and BART crowding is predictable in the Bay unless there is a Giants, Warriors, or Raiders game (I'd say Athletics too, but I don't think many people go to their games). In the Bay, you really want to schedule your train rides around those three popular teams since the majority of people going to those games are taking BART, and they're going to be drunk.

 

but Portland's Airport station was weird, I had to transfer at another station to get downtown.  Maybe it was the time I took the train I'm not sure

 

Red Line on Tri-Met goes directly downtown, so not sure what happened. Depending on where you are downtown, it makes sense to transfer to the Green Line, which hits some different areas. That's probably what happened.

 

*It's weird that both Seattle and Portland have a Pioneer Square, and they're both big tourist spots.

 

**Overall, there is an argument for commuter rail as opposed to metro rail when coming from an airport. Commuter trains have room for luggage. Toronto's Union Pearson Express train is easily the best air to rail connection in North America, but you pay dearly for it ($27.50 Canadian). So it's about $50 roundtrip, which is insane, but it's so comfortable, reliable, and fancy, there is no better way to get to Downtown Toronto. It's a high-end luxury train. Toronto transit in general is expensive. A monthly TTC pass is $141.50 Canadian.

 

Long Island Rail Road's connection to JFK is good too. Never take the MTA subway to JFK. Always take LIRR. It's way faster and more reliable. And no matter what, never rely on the E train to get to JFK from Midtown. The E sucks.

 

Also, did New York City and Chicago ever have streetcars/light rail? I find it odd that other historic major cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, San Francisco, etc. still have some old streetcars, but New York City and Chicago don't. I like the combination of heavy rail subways and historic streetcars.

Manhattan was one of the first places to get rid of their streetcars - they scrapped them in 1935 for double decker buses: http://www.transitmuseumeducation.org/trc/background

 

I believe Brooklyn had them for much longer.

I just got back from Atlanta, and while the city was as underwhelming as I expected, I've got to admit MARTA blows BART out of the water. It is way cleaner, way safer, and way more reliable than BART.

 

About 7 years ago, on my only ride on MARTA, I saw a teenager accidentally drop a gum wrapper and then spend about 15 seconds on his hands and knees looking for it on the floor so he could pick it up. As an MTA rider, I was astonished, and have had a huge soft spot for MARTA ever since. That system was the cleanest I'd ever seen.

but Portland's Airport station was weird, I had to transfer at another station to get downtown.  Maybe it was the time I took the train I'm not sure

 

Red Line on Tri-Met goes directly downtown, so not sure what happened. Depending on where you are downtown, it makes sense to transfer to the Green Line, which hits some different areas. That's probably what happened.

 

I'm can't remember the details exactly but I did have an odd experience taking MAX from the Airport to my hotel in the Lloyd District. I think Google Maps told me to get off my Red train at the Gateway Transit Center and transfer to a Blue train to go downtown, but that didn't seem right so I just stayed on the train and ended up in the right place. I think the confusion was caused by the fact that some (but not all) of the inbound Red trains become a Blue train (so they actually go all the way from the Airport to Hillsboro) and Google Maps did not properly deal with that situation.

When I flew to Portland in 2009 I rode one train into downtown.  I remember it rode on city streets on the opposite side of the river from downtown, which slowed things down.  That was before two more light rail lines opened though, so maybe they've changed the routings. 

The density in Pittsburgh's ravines, hollows and valleys is what makes it unique. But I fear Pittsburgh will make the same mistake with a busway between downtown and its eds-n-meds center that Cleveland did with its downtown-to-cultural hub transit link. Both are shying away from rail because they don't think they can get it funded even though the data shows rail is justified. So you have rail in lesser corridors but a busway in its busiest corridor, and the busway is overwhelmed with riders that would be handled easily by light rail.

 

Cleveland, at the very least, does have a rail connection to its cultural center albeit at the corner of it (dense Little Italy, though, is directly served).  But a lot of people do use the Red Line to University Circle from downtown and the West Side.  Obviously the Health Line is more direct and serves core East Side areas, but U.Circle does have a rail connection... In Pittsburgh, the LRT doesn't even come close to Oakland, which which is denser and more populated than U.Circle.

 

 

I wrote this article about how Atlanta received all of that federal funding for MARTA almost by chance in the early 1970s, ahead of many more-deserving peer cities:

http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/02/cincinnati-missed-on-huge-opportunity-with-urban-mass-transit-act-of-1970/

 

The state of Georgia does not and seemingly will never provide even 1 cent of funding for MARTA.  It is funded entirely by just two counties (by contrast, Baltimore's contemporaneous rapid transit line is supported *entirely* by the state of Maryland).  That's why it hasn't expanded deep into the suburbs.  Also, its traditional high-platform rapid transit format is *much* more expensive to build than is light rail.  Every overpass uses much more concrete and steel than light rail. 

 

I agree that the Peachtree St. subway had a huge effect on attracting office towers to DT Atlanta as opposed to the suburbs.  It also dictated the way that Midtown developed in a strip.  Also, that airport station is probably the most convenient rapid transit connection in the country.  Portland and Seattle's light rail stations at their respective airports might be similarly convenient.

 

@jmecklenburg, do you have any idea how sound that OKI drawing is? I'm looking at it and questioning the ability of heavy rail to make some of those grades, even if deep-bored. Specifically I'm questioning the climb from LPH to St Lawrence and then up Vine St. Looks like there's a stop at Vine and W Clifton/McMicken, and then again under McMillan/Calhoun. Is that possible?

 

I wrote this article about how Atlanta received all of that federal funding for MARTA almost by chance in the early 1970s, ahead of many more-deserving peer cities:

http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/02/cincinnati-missed-on-huge-opportunity-with-urban-mass-transit-act-of-1970/

 

The state of Georgia does not and seemingly will never provide even 1 cent of funding for MARTA.  It is funded entirely by just two counties (by contrast, Baltimore's contemporaneous rapid transit line is supported *entirely* by the state of Maryland).  That's why it hasn't expanded deep into the suburbs.  Also, its traditional high-platform rapid transit format is *much* more expensive to build than is light rail.  Every overpass uses much more concrete and steel than light rail. 

 

I agree that the Peachtree St. subway had a huge effect on attracting office towers to DT Atlanta as opposed to the suburbs.  It also dictated the way that Midtown developed in a strip.  Also, that airport station is probably the most convenient rapid transit connection in the country.  Portland and Seattle's light rail stations at their respective airports might be similarly convenient.

 

@jmecklenburg, do you have any idea how sound that OKI drawing is? I'm looking at it and questioning the ability of heavy rail to make some of those grades, even if deep-bored. Specifically I'm questioning the climb from LPH to St Lawrence and then up Vine St. Looks like there's a stop at Vine and W Clifton/McMicken, and then again under McMillan/Calhoun. Is that possible?

 

 

I have actually looked at those grades in the past on Google Earth (with the measure and distance tools) and all of it is technically possible, although very expensive.  I think most of those grades would have been around 5-6%. 

 

 

What's a more normal grade? 3-4%?

According to this article, part of the brand-new light rail tunnel in Seattle is 5%:

 

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crews-ready-next-phase-link-light-rail-project-con/nThjg/

 

but Portland's Airport station was weird, I had to transfer at another station to get downtown.  Maybe it was the time I took the train I'm not sure

 

Red Line on Tri-Met goes directly downtown, so not sure what happened. Depending on where you are downtown, it makes sense to transfer to the Green Line, which hits some different areas. That's probably what happened.

 

I'm can't remember the details exactly but I did have an odd experience taking MAX from the Airport to my hotel in the Lloyd District. I think Google Maps told me to get off my Red train at the Gateway Transit Center and transfer to a Blue train to go downtown, but that didn't seem right so I just stayed on the train and ended up in the right place. I think the confusion was caused by the fact that some (but not all) of the inbound Red trains become a Blue train (so they actually go all the way from the Airport to Hillsboro) and Google Maps did not properly deal with that situation.

 

That's exactly what happened to me, it looks like google has fixed this quirk as when I typed in the directions from the airport it gave me a one seat ride.  Its weird esp given that Portland has had google transit for longer than any other city too.

Glad to see this!

 

Baltimore Residents and Civic Groups File Title VI Complaint with United States Department of Transportation over Maryland’s Discriminatory Decision to Strip Baltimore of Transportation Funding

 

Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center; Covington & Burling LLP; and the ACLU of Maryland, filed a complaint with the United States Department of Transportation on behalf of the Baltimore Regional Initiative Developing Genuine Equality, Inc. (“BRIDGE”), and African-American residents of the City of Baltimore, challenging the state’s decision this summer to cancel plans for the “Red Line” rail system for Baltimore City. The complaint alleges that the decision to cancel the Red Line and divert transportation funds to highway and other projects outside the city has a disparate impact on African-American residents in Baltimore. According to the complaint filed today, this action violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits state agencies that engage in discrimination from receiving federal funds.

 

“This is a critical civil rights issue. Everyone who knows this city knows that the lack of rapid transit restricts access to jobs and housing for low and middle income African-American residents living along the city’s east-west corridor,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). The Governor’s unilateral decision to cancel the Red Line this summer came while many residents were still reeling from unrest after the death of Freddie Gray. “It frankly shocked the entire city,” said Ifill, who has spoken frequently about the civil rights implications of the decision to abandon the plan for the Red Line in Baltimore.

 

MORE:

http://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/baltimore-residents-and-civic-groups-file-title-vi-complaint-united-states-department

 

Governor Hogan's highway map cuts Baltimore City out of Maryland

 

^^ Excellent!!

Yeah, Baltimore really needs to make sure these rail investments happen. That city has become an epicenter of urban issues in America that apply to a wide swath of the nation. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

Hello Columbus?? You're not going to stand for this are you?

 

Light rail system with cost up to $700 million proposed in Ann Arbor

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/potentially_700m_light_rail_sy.html

That's hilarious, even Ann Arbor acts like a bigger city than Columbus. I bet that actually does motivate us to act.

Hello Columbus?? You're not going to stand for this are you?

 

Light rail system with cost up to $700 million proposed in Ann Arbor

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/potentially_700m_light_rail_sy.html

 

More like Hello Cleveland; we got a BRT line instead of light-rail on our dual hub corridor.

Columbus, not Cleveland, has a rivalry with the much-smaller Ann Arbor who is kicking c-bus' butt on trains-n-transit....

 

U-M taking lead role on Ann Arbor light rail project as it enters next phase

By Ryan Stanton | [email protected]

on February 25, 2016 at 5:34 AM, updated February 25, 2016 at 7:32 AM

 

ANN ARBOR, MI — The University of Michigan is taking the lead role on a proposed light rail project in Ann Arbor as it enters the next phase of study and conceptual design.

 

Following the completion of an alternatives analysis led by the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority — which identified light rail as the preferred mode for the so-called Ann Arbor Connector — the university is expected to lead the Connector project through a two-year environmental review and preliminary engineering process that's estimated to cost $3 million to $4 million.

 

"The intention is that the university would lead that phase of the project, but it's still the same collaborative effort that we've had going forward," said Steve Dolen, the university's parking and transportation services director.

 

The university is continuing to partner with the city, the AAATA and the Downtown Development Authority.

 

MORE:

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/u-m_taking_lead_role_on_ann_ar.html

Hello Columbus?? You're not going to stand for this are you?

 

Light rail system with cost up to $700 million proposed in Ann Arbor

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/potentially_700m_light_rail_sy.html

 

If that's what it takes to get some Buckeye fans to support light rail in Columbus, I'm all for it!

Hello Columbus?? You're not going to stand for this are you?

 

Light rail system with cost up to $700 million proposed in Ann Arbor

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/potentially_700m_light_rail_sy.html

 

If that's what it takes to get some Buckeye fans to support light rail in Columbus, I'm all for it!

 

Yeah, it would be kinda silly if the U-M rivalry is what motivates the entire city of Columbus to get moving where it should have been so motivated decades ago but, as you said, whatever it takes . ... Ann Arbor is so much different than Columbus: it's a small, though dense, college town (with a highly walkable core) at the edge of the Detroit metropolitan area as opposed Columbus, which is a substantial metropolitan area of over 1.5M.  The largest uses for Ann Arbor's planned system is to a) move students and faculty between UM's Central and North campuses and b) moving large numbers of visitors from A2's circumferential freeway, as well as students from the 2 aforementioned campuses, to the Big House in the Athletic campus to the south on football Saturdays. 

Look at the details of that plan a little closer...they're looking to replace an annual shuttle operations cost of about $10 million dollars with this rail line, which will also cost about $10 million to operated, but with much nicer and larger vehicles.  They're also doing some dedicated ROW, so it might be a minute or two faster. 

If Ann Arbor's new Amtrak station (also to be served by planned commuter rail) is located on the north side of the Medical Center then the light rail line can connect with it. Persons arriving Ann Arbor by train will be able to reach the university campuses and the downtown business district by light rail.

Hello Columbus?? You're not going to stand for this are you?

 

Light rail system with cost up to $700 million proposed in Ann Arbor

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/potentially_700m_light_rail_sy.html

 

If that's what it takes to get some Buckeye fans to support light rail in Columbus, I'm all for it!

 

Yeah, it would be kinda silly if the U-M rivalry is what motivates the entire city of Columbus to get moving where it should have been so motivated decades ago but, as you said, whatever it takes . ... Ann Arbor is so much different than Columbus: it's a small, though dense, college town (with a highly walkable core) at the edge of the Detroit metropolitan area as opposed Columbus, which is a substantial metropolitan area of over 1.5M.  The largest uses for Ann Arbor's planned system is to a) move students and faculty between UM's Central and North campuses and b) moving large numbers of visitors from A2's circumferential freeway, as well as students from the 2 aforementioned campuses, to the Big House in the Athletic campus to the south on football Saturdays.

 

Columbus is a substantial metro area; however, its population is spread out in 10 counties.  Not exactly dense for a large metro that includes ''Columbus region'' with about 490 people/square mile.

Some of the most successful transit lines were built into completely unpopulated areas.

I can attest that Ann Arbor's surrounding freeways are a disaster. It never occurred to me that there might be traffic in Michigan until I sat on that stretch of 23 for an hour. Not to mention that all of their freeways up there are yuuuuuge.

 

I thought linking two separate campuses reminded me of Morgantown's rubber-tire People Mover.

 

It's really amazing how rail is taking over in Michigan. The Wolverine has been a success, right? I have seen some chatter about a new Amtrak line that would basically extend the Wolverine past Pontiac (where it now ends?) up to the top of the mitten. M1 is mostly in the ground - I was up there last weekend and it looks like a few intersections downtown and one side of the road in Midtown are all that's left, and they've visibly let out every section with work well underway.

 

Kansas City is opening up in April or May from what I heard. Cincy and Detroit will be opening within months of that, I believe. Amazing that Ann Arbor doesn't even seem to blink with a streetcar that is 7 times as expensive as the new lines in Detroit and Cincy.

 

So uh yeah, looking at you Columbus...

Some of the most successful transit lines were built into completely unpopulated areas.

 

By ''transit lines'' you mean any form of transit?

Different types of rail transit lines -- light-rail/interurban, heavy-rail, regional commuter. Most were part of the old trusts of utilities/transportation/real estate that the Supreme Court broke up at the behe$t of rural advocates and automobile interests. Most of Cleveland, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and northern Parma was developed by these trusts.

 

More recently Salt Lake City and Florida (Brightline) are offering more notable examples, but as a PPP.

So the developers owned the utilities and streetcars through the same trusts that sold newly developed homes?

 

Are there any notable examples of this outside of the Van Sweringens? Not questioning you, but my interest is definitely piqued.

So the developers owned the utilities and streetcars through the same trusts that sold newly developed homes?

 

Are there any notable examples of this outside of the Van Sweringens? Not questioning you, but my interest is definitely piqued.

 

Yes in Los Angeles and San Fransisco east bay cities. 

Just about every streetcar and interurban railway system in the USA was organized this way. They were all stockholder-owned companies. Some had one shareholder who owned at least 51 percent of the stock in a streetcar/interurban company, or an electric utility, or a real estate company, or two of these, or all three. Sometimes there were interlocking directorships. Sometimes the streetcar/interurban company and the electric utility were one in the same (this was often true more often than not). Sometimes the transportation, utility and real estate components were incorporated separately through various holding companies but were ultimately part of the same conglomerate.

 

One of the largest in the USA was the huge trust of Sam Insull-owned interurbans, utilities and real estate companies, focused primarily on Chicago. He was certainly one of the most famous (or infamous, if you were a rural resident who couldn't get electric utility service or were the victim of his stock manipulations).

 

One of the biggest around NE Ohio was the Northern Ohio Traction & Light (NOT&L). It was a combined interurban (traction - a name used to describe electrically powered railways) and electric utility (the "light" portion of the name). Its network included a core route from Cleveland to Akron and Canton and beyond to New Philadelphia, Barberton, Alliance and Warren. The mainline from Cleveland to Akron was double-tracked and ran on its own right of way. Most interurbans ran along the sides of roadways in the countryside in the middle of streets in towns. Akron was the hub of the NOT&L which built a major railroad station with trainshed and office building that still stands on North Main Street near Market. Trains of the NOT&L routinely cruised at 80 from Bedford south to Cuyahoga Falls on what was called the Crittenden Cutoff, a new route to avoid the older, side-of-the-road operation along old Route 8 through Northfield. Today, the Crittenden Cutoff is the route of new Route 8.

 

When the Supreme Court forced the separation of electric utilities and interurbans to push electrification beyond just the urbanized railway corridors and into more rural areas, the stand-alone rail lines couldn't survive on their own. Many went bankrupt at the start of Great Depression. Some converted to bus service on their own. Some were bought up by bus companies. And some were bought up by shell companies created by the consortium of General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tires, etc. NOT&L rail operations were acquired by a bus company (Yellow lines?). NOT&L's electric operations joined with dozens of other utilities and became Ohio Edison Co., today's FirstEnergy.

 

There's a number of Ohio Edison brick substation buildings around NE Ohio that were once NOT&L stations like the structure at the intersection of route 82 and new route 8 in Macedonia, or the structure on West Main Street in Kent, where the NOT&L branch to Warren and Alliance (split at Ravenna) turned south onto to its own right of way toward Cuyahoga Falls. Many interurban railways also built and owned amusement parks to provide weekend ridership. The NOT&L's Silver Lake, Wyoga Lake and Myers Lake amusement parks were some of their larger parks. So not all of their real estate interests were housing related. Puritas Springs Parks on Cleveland's west side was a park built and owned by the Cleveland Southwestern interurban. Luna Park and White City, I believe, were started by predecessors of the Cleveland Railway Co. -- the city's streetcar system post-1910.

 

And in other cases, real estate developers petitioned the nearest streetcar or interurban railway to extend a line out to its undeveloped land, what was called a "promotional line." If the real estate developer didn't own a large amount of stock in the streetcar/interurban company, then it had to subsidize the operations until traffic grew enough to sustain itself. This was obviously very risky, but since the electric utility came with the wires, it was often a necessary risk. Two promotional lines in my area were the Madison Avenue line west of Union Carbide (West 117th) into Lakewood and the Clifton line which was then utilized by the Lake Shore Electric to extend service west to Lorain (as a double-track, 80 mph high speed line), a branch south to Elyria, and through service beyond Lorain to Sandusky and Toledo. Lake Shore Electric was NE Ohio's longest surviving interurban, lasting until 1938. It became Lake Shore Coach Lines which was acquired 11 years later by Greyhound.

So the developers owned the utilities and streetcars through the same trusts that sold newly developed homes?

 

Are there any notable examples of this outside of the Van Sweringens? Not questioning you, but my interest is definitely piqued.

 

Yes in Los Angeles and San Fransisco east bay cities.

Must be an imminent safety issue facing the entire Washington Metro rail system?

 

BREAKING: Multiple sources tell News4 Metro will shut down entirely tomorrow (Wednesday) for safety checks. @nbcwashington #wmata

 

More:

Robert McCartney ‏@McCartneyWP  8m8 minutes ago

URGENT Entire Metro system to shut down for at least 29 hours starting at midnight to check for faulty cables, say 2 Metro officials. #WMATA

http://943jackfm.com/news/articles/2016/mar/15/washington-metro-to-shut-down-wednesday-for-safety-checks-nbc-affiliate/

 

 

I hate to say this but it might be an effort to foil a terrorist attack. 

http://943jackfm.com/news/articles/2016/mar/15/washington-metro-to-shut-down-wednesday-for-safety-checks-nbc-affiliate/

 

 

I hate to say this but it might be an effort to foil a terrorist attack. 

 

I thought about that, but the metro is such a mess these days, any attack would be superfluous to WMATA's recent actions.

http://943jackfm.com/news/articles/2016/mar/15/washington-metro-to-shut-down-wednesday-for-safety-checks-nbc-affiliate/

 

 

I hate to say this but it might be an effort to foil a terrorist attack. 

 

Don't think that's the case

Here's the official release on tomorrow's #MetroShutdown from @wmata:

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=6082

I give Wiedefeld credit. This couldn't have been an easy decision to make, but after years and years of ignoring safety concerns, it's good to see WMATA's new GM actually values the safety of the riders.

The similarity of yesterday's fire to the January 2015 L'Enfant Plaza smoke incident is what prompted this shutdown.

If saftey was a issue why wait until tomorrow?

If saftey was a issue why wait until tomorrow?

 

Because everyone's at work and needs to get home.  Like 500,000 people. 

I can understand that. If it is still safe enough to move that many people. Why not wait until the weekend??

Well this might be politically motivated.  No better way to get everyone's attention with regards to funding shortages than to shut the whole thing down in the middle of the week. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metros-safety-check-spots-severe-cable-damage-in-3-areas/2016/03/16/9130a878-eba4-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_metroshutdown-645pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

 

Can you imagine if NYC has the same issues?

This November, Seattle-area voters will approve or decline to tax the hell out of themselves for Sound Transit 3.  It will raise the average household's property taxes by about $400, a huge tax hike compared to anything that has ever been proposed in Ohio.

 

http://seattletransitblog.com/2016/03/24/st3-draft-plan-overview/

 

So to review the past 20 years, Sound Transit 1 did the following:

-established Sounder commuter rail

-built tiny streetcar in Tacoma

-built Phase 1 of Link light rail, which comprised only the southern, mostly street-running line to SeaTac and conversion of the DT bus tunnel to light rail. 

-might have funded bus operations, but I'm not sure

 

Sound Transit 2 funded:

-6 mile subway tunnel from DT transit tunnel north to Northgate Mall.  3 miles and two stations opened in early 2016 and the remainder will open around 2020. 

-light rail extension past SeaTac

-new light rail line across the lake to Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Microsoft campus in Redmond

 

Sound Transit 3 will:

-extend existing north/south light rail line to...54 miles.  Will connect Tacoma to Everett, a suburb about 20 miles north of DT Seattle

-create second light rail trunk line through city center.  Will build second DT subway tunnel parallel to the existing one.

-build a 5-mile subway line to Ballard.

-build a 5-mile subway line to West Seattle Peninsula.

 

 

What's interesting about Sound Transit's strategy is that Phase 1 and 2 pretty much just created a rail alternative to I-5 + the cross-lake expressway to Bellevue and Redmond.  But Sound Transit 3 will spend huge money in the city itself, building almost fully-grade separated light rail lines (some elevated, but mostly underground) in established medium-density neighborhoods.  So there will be a huge land rush in these neighborhoods 10+ years before these lines open. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some photos I took of a new streetcar line under construction in New Orleans in April:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This will be a second branch of the new retro streetcars.  So the original Charles St. streetcar from the 1800s comes downtown but simply loops right back out.  The Canal St. streetcars are modern streetcars disguised as old ones and started running around 2004.  There is a non-revenue link between the two lines, but the operation of the two lines is completely independent.  Different rolling stock, separate maintenance facilities.  The new line seen here will branch from the Canal St. line (the new streetcars) and head about 2 miles east on Rampart Ave.  It will use the same sort of modern retro streetcar.