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It would be even better if rail line went further north to the Heathrow Office park area. I live in College Park and work up in Heathrow and I would take the rail if it existed. :thumbsup:

wouldn't it also be helpful to extend it closer to orlando sanford airport for those coming in from that side of town? get historic sanford (my good old hometown) into the mix!

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What kind of timelines are up for the first leg of the train to be operation?

you should review the first few pages of this thread for that info-- it's got to have changed by now by of that funding cut mentioned by another poster. 2009 was supposed to be phase 1 from DeBary to DT.

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  • 4 weeks later...

What is your argument for this statement?

Good question. I would imagine that if Central Florida is to continue developing transit-oriented communities having them run through the CBD's of the smaller Seminole towns would be ideal. Having the additional pedestrian/vehicle traffic will help small businesses a lot.

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I have been up and down the 17/92 corridor for years. True, Uptown Altamonte will be excluded from this as will Heathrow, but I-4 and 17/92 are huge commuter corridors in and of themselves. Now, 427 is b/c of the widening they did 2 years ago.

I'm surprised Maitland does not have a station planned-- it would be so easy right off of Maitland Ave.

For Commuter Rail, they should get this built, at least the first leg, and then immediately study to get another spur up those tracks straddling 441 up thru Apopka and into Lake Co. Now that would be very smart.

As for other routes, like out to Waterford, I don't know of any existing lines. THere's easement issues out there. don't know if an easement in the middle of 408 is feasible or not.

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I'm surprised Maitland does not have a station planned-- it would be so easy right off of Maitland Ave.

Originally, Maitland didn't want a station and now they have switched positions. The Sentinel article states that the City Commission just voted to ask for a station.

Based on my own speculation, they probably didn't want a station due to increased development around the station. Maitland appears to be very anti-development. Maybe they just realized that the train is coming through their town regardless of whether they like it or not and duhh.... might as well get a station and increased revenue.

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What is your argument for this statement?

Have you been to the old downtown part of Lake Mary where this rail line is proposed to run? You could lie down in the middle of the street and not worry about getting run over, there's nothing there... The I-4 corridor area of Lake Mary / Heathrow has tens of thousands of people working and living within walking distance. In Altamonte it's the same... tens of thousands of people already live, work and shop within a mile of I-4 and 436. The proposed rail line area of Altamonte is a dead low rent area by comparison. The I-4 area of Maitland has tens of thousands of people working within a mile also. The proposed Maitland rail corridor area is and will be growing, but it won't get near the commercial office density of Maitland Center.

Edited by facilities man
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Have you been to the old downtown part of Lake Mary where this rail line is proposed to run? You could lie down in the middle of the street and not worry about getting run over, there's nothing there... The I-4 corridor area of Lake Mary / Heathrow has tens of thousands of people working and living within walking distance. In Altamonte it's the same... tens of thousands of people already live, work and shop within a mile of I-4 and 436. The proposed rail line area of Altamonte is a dead low rent area by comparison. The I-4 area of Maitland has tens of thousands of people working within a mile also. The proposed Maitland rail corridor area is and will be growing, but it won't get near the commercial office density of Maitland Center.

good points. I'm thinking the majore beneficiary to this rail line will be City of ORL and West Volusia County. I remember in Atlanta, the Doraville station for MARTA was nothing to speak of, other than a commuter lot there.

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Have you been to the old downtown part of Lake Mary where this rail line is proposed to run? You could lie down in the middle of the street and not worry about getting run over, there's nothing there... The I-4 corridor area of Lake Mary / Heathrow has tens of thousands of people working and living within walking distance. In Altamonte it's the same... tens of thousands of people already live, work and shop within a mile of I-4 and 436. The proposed rail line area of Altamonte is a dead low rent area by comparison. The I-4 area of Maitland has tens of thousands of people working within a mile also. The proposed Maitland rail corridor area is and will be growing, but it won't get near the commercial office density of Maitland Center.

All of the areas you are saying that are currently developed are car-friendly and not so pedestrian friendly. You may want to read the article in the Sentinel. Things change when the stations go in place. Little areas of prosperity pop-up around the train stops. You can look at any large city and see how the stations spur developments. For a very good example of how this works, look at the Kendall / Dadeland station.

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All of the areas you are saying that are currently developed are car-friendly and not so pedestrian friendly. You may want to read the article in the Sentinel. Things change when the stations go in place. Little areas of prosperity pop-up around the train stops. You can look at any large city and see how the stations spur developments. For a very good example of how this works, look at the Kendall / Dadeland station.

I undersatnd these areas change and that is what the article emphasized, but the existing areas are already more developed than these new areas could hope to get. What they need IMO is to run the lines down the I-4 corridor and put in large parking garages. That's what was done for marta in Atlanta, the areas directly next to the parking garages and rail stations grew even more in density. Marta is largely a rail system you drive to like a park and ride. That's what I see working in Orlando as well.

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I have been up and down the 17/92 corridor for years. True, Uptown Altamonte will be excluded from this as will Heathrow, but I-4 and 17/92 are huge commuter corridors in and of themselves. Now, 427 is b/c of the widening they did 2 years ago.

I'm surprised Maitland does not have a station planned-- it would be so easy right off of Maitland Ave.

For Commuter Rail, they should get this built, at least the first leg, and then immediately study to get another spur up those tracks straddling 441 up thru Apopka and into Lake Co. Now that would be very smart.

As for other routes, like out to Waterford, I don't know of any existing lines. THere's easement issues out there. don't know if an easement in the middle of 408 is feasible or not.

A commuter line into Lake County would be a nice addition.

How about a light rail or BRT route down Colonial from West Oaks Mall to Waterford?

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Speck mentioned the rail plan leading to more sprawl in the PAC thread. Here's my take on this:

I have mixed feelings about the route, b/c it misses already established nodes of development.

If you focus on just getting to DT ORL, then it makes sense, b/c who cares about the Lake Mary and Longwood and south ORL stations, right? However, since this thing shadows I-4 and 17/92 and some points w/in a few miles, it could really influence development there- close-in development, which ultimately is centrally located- on a linear spine from north to south, thru the metro.

I'm thinking this will be a "proving ground" of sorts for a future light rail line following the I-4 corridor closely and other lines from E-W as well. THis is the cheapest way to go right now.

My only gripe is that if this does get approved, I want them to build a really nice looking station DT w/ classical architecture. I won't hold my breath.

Edited by JRS1
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They were supposed to be expanding LYNX Central Station. That's logical to me. Plus if Orlando CenterPlace gets off the ground that would be ideal. Maybe if the City/County/State can do a JV with a developer they can build something of global significance.

Anyone seen the new Calatrava Transportation Center planned for Ground Zero?

infranew-0406.jpg

Edited by mrh3
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They were supposed to be expanding LYNX Central Station. That's logical to me. Plus if Orlando CenterPlace gets off the ground that would be ideal. Maybe if the City/County/State can do a JV with a developer they can build something of global significance.

Anyone seen the new Calatrava Transportation Center planned for Ground Zero?

infranew-0406.jpg

^ I like it, although I like the original design much better. Apparently, owing to fears of terrorism, the glass was eliminated and NYC is left with a fish skeleton.

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Just one question, do u think we will still be alive when this thing actually get done?

I sure hope so. Bad to answer one q with another, but it deserves asking-what do you think gas will cost by the time it's done? Dec contracts for crude oil are just under 80 dollars. The price ain't going down, and discovery of new fields goes down every year and has for over 20 years.

Anyway, I think part of the appeal to these cities is exactly what was mentioned about Altamonte-it's going through a low rent, low density area (and if you look at these suburbs, most get lower density as you get further from the interstate interchange) and this is a huge opportunity to redevelop these areas. And, of course, increase tax revenues. Are there really any other options to redevelop the 436/track area in Altamonte? With the focus on 'Uptown', it's probably more neglected than ever. It would be a boon to Maitland also and their plans for that area. Maybe they should forget about I-4, I used to think it would be easy to run tracks in the middle or off to the side, but maybe it's best to leave people near there to drive, or let drive to a station if they want to.

Not to mention places like DeBary, a surburan wasteland if I've ever seen one. They would have to totally redo their zoning and LDC however.

Edited by neon9
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Meanwhile, while we dick around on our single urban rail line, Salt Lake City, of all places, has opened theirs and it is a major success. So much so, in fact, they are actually talking about raising taxes to build 4 more lines 15 years ahead of schedule.

Sad. Can't imagine that flying here.

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Meanwhile, while we dick around on our single urban rail line, Salt Lake City, of all places, has opened theirs and it is a major success. So much so, in fact, they are actually talking about raising taxes to build 4 more lines 15 years ahead of schedule.

Sad. Can't imagine that flying here.

true, but the fact that we have a proposal this far along and signed on by so many communities in the first place is quite a feat for this region. so anything's possible.

Just though of this-- I bet if commuter rail gets built, Edgewood area where Orange splits into 2 one-way roads might skyrocket as a new urban center. I can already see the ORHS area becoming even more urbanized, as well as FH South.

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