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Proposed Light Rail Systems


mcheiss

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Here is the proposed route of the "Central Corridor" LRT currently in the planning stages for the Twin Cities. The project has already received preliminary planning money, and it looks like the project will be a go.

LRT.jpg

Here is a map of the proposed Northstar Rail commuter line that will run NW out of the Twin Cities along U.S 10. This has already received the go on funding from state and federal sources. This would be operational by early 2009.

The plan right now is to build it through Big Lake with future expansion to St. Cloud. THe trains will be diesel powered.

map1.gif

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The Hartford/New Haven/Springfield Metros (it's like 60 miles from top to bottom, really should be one metro) are poised to benefit from a proposed commuter rail line between the three cities.

Here's a New York Times article (registration required) about it. It's was actually proposed in a recent transportation bill supported by Governor Rell of CT, though there is another transportation bill floating around that allocates more money to other parts of the State. I'm optomistic that I'll be seeing this some time down the road. I'm attaching a map of the proposed route that I pulled from the New York Times.

post-9196-1145468852_thumb.jpg

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Indianapolis is completing studies for its first rapid transit line. The line will extend from the IUPUI campus on the west side of downtown, through central downtown Indianapolis and head northeast through the city towards Fishers and Noblesville. The mode will likely be light rail, although automated guideway transit has support also. Given the proposed layouts which center on the old Nickel Plate RR line, it is likely to be some form of rail transit.

Curious, considering that Indy was the former hub of the universe for interurban transit; are there any of the former ROW's still available for use?

Mark

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Here is an aerial view of the new Cross County extension to the St. Louis -- Illinois Metro Link Light Rail System. This extension will open in October of this year 2006. It starts at the current Forest Park station and branches to West to Clayton, and then South to Maplewood, Webster Groves, and Shrewsbury.

St. Louis MetroLink Light Rail -- New CrossCounty Extension

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The Hartford/New Haven/Springfield Metros (it's like 60 miles from top to bottom, really should be one metro) are poised to benefit from a proposed commuter rail line between the three cities.

Here's a New York Times article (registration required) about it. It's was actually proposed in a recent transportation bill supported by Governor Rell of CT, though there is another transportation bill floating around that allocates more money to other parts of the State. I'm optomistic that I'll be seeing this some time down the road. I'm attaching a map of the proposed route that I pulled from the New York Times.

Thanks for posting the NYTimes article, Damas!

For those having a hard time thinking this can work...Imagine, the price of RE in metro NYC; image 1000's of high-quality historic homes in historic neighborhoods sitting, undervalued, within walking distance to the train stations; imagine, the inherent - but undervalued - beauty of the Connecticut River Valley; imagine access to an underutilized international airport (BDL - which by all reason should be offering flights to Europe given the population within a 1 hour drive and income...); imagine access to recreation areas in Vermont, southeastern CT (casinos and Long Island Sound), the CT River; imagine, access to one of the greatest concentrations of institutions of higher learning; imagine NYC - arguably the greatest city in the world IS NOT a 10 to 20 plane trip across the continents but, within 1 - 2 hours by frequent train service - on trains where one can work, nap, socialize...

If I had the money, I'd be buying real estate in old Thompsonville, Windsor, Middletown, Hartford, New Haven...

Edited by Phillydog
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Our State Legislature and the Governor in Michigan have agreed on a funding plan so that the Grand Rapids Metro area can raise the matching funds for the next stage of studies to build a "Fixed-Guideway" system to serve the metro area:

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-2...2003_10,00.html

with the first two proposed routes serving the South and Southeast sides (most densely populated areas) of Grand Rapids and the airport:

136392807_8b080a741d_o.jpg

Not as far along as most of us would like, but it's gaining momentum. What The RAPID terms "Streetcar" is actually at-grade light rail mixed in with traffic along major thoroughfares.

Kent County may form Transit Task Force

Fix a road, fund a mass transit system

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That funding applies to SE michigan (DEtroit) as well. Interesting how the uniquely conservative legislature sought to explicitly exclude Detroit from the benifits that legislation would garner. However, Granholm's stern position that she would veto legislation excluding Detroit led to the current comprimise. Thanks state congress...we're feeling your love.

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There are very preliminary studies being done for light rail or BRT on 2 routes heading south out of Providence. The mayor keeps speaking about LRT, but there are no official plans or funding yet.

Rhode Island is focused on Commuter Rail right now. We currently have MBTA Commuter Rail service from Providence to Boston, and that is going to be extended south further into Rhode Island to serve T.F. Green Aiport and several stops south of the airport. There's also the possibility that Connecticut's Shoreline East Commuter Rail could be extended into Southern Rhode Island. And the city of Pawtucket is looking to open a Commuter Rail station on the current Providence to Boston line.

There is a propsal by a group of private investers to create a rail shuttle line on Aquidneck Island serving Newport. This could run with DMUs. The rail bridge to Aquidneck Island needs to be replaced, if this is done, the shuttle service could eventually run to Fall River, Massachusetts and connect to a proposed Commuter Rail line from Fall River to Boston.

In Boston, the MBTA recently gave high priority status to a proposal to extend the greenline LRT north into the city of Somerville.

GreenLine001.jpg

Last I saw, commuter rail will be extended to Wickford and Westerly. Westerly is where the CT Transit links will happen.

As far as LRT - I keep hearing rumblings about it along with costs of $30 million per mile. T

Extending that if they build North/South and East West LRT in the approximate 4x5 mile area of Providence we'd be looking at total costs of $270 million to build an LRT system.

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That funding applies to SE michigan (DEtroit) as well. Interesting how the uniquely conservative legislature sought to explicitly exclude Detroit from the benifits that legislation would garner. However, Granholm's stern position that she would veto legislation excluding Detroit led to the current comprimise. Thanks state congress...we're feeling your love.

So instead of taking this opportunity to continue the East/West polarization, why don't you share with the group what Southeast Michigan has planned for their transit system and how far along they are with regional planning?

Thanks

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So instead of taking this opportunity to continue the East/West polarization, why don't you share with the group what Southeast Michigan has planned for their transit system and how far along they are with regional planning?

Thanks

...........................................................................we got busses,lol

no but really, i hope Detroit can get a better regional transit system.

i wish GR the best in their hopes to get one as well. i think they really really need it.

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The undoubtedly beautiful Pacific Northwest:

1. Seattle: We are currently building a 16 to 17 mile light rail from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle via the southern suburbs of Tukwila, Sea-Tac (yes, its a city named after the airport) and Seattle's Rainier Valley (a predominately low-income and minority neighborhood with the intentions of increasing their mobility to major employment centers). In 2008, Sound Transit will work on their 4.5 mile northern extention from Downtown Seattle to The University of Washington via Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The initial segment (Sea-Tac to Downtown) is supposed to have 45,000 annual boardings and open in December of 2009 just in time for an expected tourism spurt thanks to the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia (only 140 miles north). In 2014, the 4.5 mile extention is expected to open and more than double (yes double) the annual ridership to around 110,000 annual riders. Thats due in part to those areas being served with the extention are Seattle's densest neighborhoods.

Also, this fall in the Puget Sound metro area (home to 4 million lovely residents) Sound Transit (our regional transit agency) will be asking voters to approve an expansion of service with more commuter rail and light rail and more express bus service. Knowing the residents of the area, they will approve the measure. :)

More info: www.soundtransit.org

2. Spokane: This little city of 200,000 and metro 650,000 will be asking voters this fall to approve a light rail segment that will be approximately 15-20 miles. It will serve the eastern suburbs of Spokane Valley and onto Liberty Lake. It's VERY controversial! Things in Spokane are much more conservative and typical of a western city. I do have hope though. If Salt Lake City can do it (and theyre FAR less dense than Spokane), then Spokane can do a better job! So, this fall we'll keep our eyes open.

More info: www.spokanelightrail.com

Hope that helped! Thanks for reading!

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Tucson has a "modern streetcar" proposal that will be voted on May 16. The federal matching funds have already been secured, but it's part of a massive regional transportation plan which will be paid with a 0.5 cent sales tax.

From what I've seen, it looks almost exactly like a light rail, however, the terminology may be for marketing, as a light rail proposal was defeated here four years ago.

The map is here: Map

Basically, it will run from an area known as El Mercado, which is now an enormous vacant lot, but is being constructed as a massive mixed-use development as part of the Rio Nuevo project, to University Medical Center on the University of Arizona campus. This will link Tucson's two major employment centers and provide access to two of the more congested areas of the city.

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Last I saw, commuter rail will be extended to Wickford and Westerly. Westerly is where the CT Transit links will happen.

As far as LRT - I keep hearing rumblings about it along with costs of $30 million per mile. T

Extending that if they build North/South and East West LRT in the approximate 4x5 mile area of Providence we'd be looking at total costs of $270 million to build an LRT system.

I think in RI, commuter rail is 'proposed' to go as far as Westerly, but current 'planning' only has it going as far as the North Kingstown Amtrak station with new stops at Wickford Junction and T.F. Green. Pawtucket is studying the feesiblity of two station locations in Pawtucket, including the old train station. Cranston has also expressed interest in creating a stop at Park Avenue on Route 95, but that is not part of any current planning/funding.

There's vague talk of Shoreline East service going as far as T.F. Green.

Proposals for light rail in Providence seem to be focused on an arc from the waterfront along Allens Avenue, up through Downcity (most likely on Memorial Blvd.) then around the mall somehow to the Promenade area along the river out to around about Eagle Square. Of course RIPTA has made it clear they barely have enough money for current service and that the state will have to step to the plate with some funding if we are to see any LRT/Streetcars in Providence. There's also talk of routes to East Providence and south of the city, but the Waterfront lines seem to the top priority at this time.

This ProJo article outlines what RIPTA would like to do if the General Assembly would secure federal and state funding to do the work. And the article is being discussed in this thread.

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The undoubtedly beautiful Pacific Northwest:

1. Seattle: We are currently building a 16 to 17 mile light rail from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle via the southern suburbs of Tukwila, Sea-Tac (yes, its a city named after the airport) and Seattle's Rainier Valley (a predominately low-income and minority neighborhood with the intentions of increasing their mobility to major employment centers). In 2008, Sound Transit will work on their 4.5 mile northern extention from Downtown Seattle to The University of Washington via Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The initial segment (Sea-Tac to Downtown) is supposed to have 45,000 annual boardings and open in December of 2009 just in time for an expected tourism spurt thanks to the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia (only 140 miles north). In 2014, the 4.5 mile extention is expected to open and more than double (yes double) the annual ridership to around 110,000 annual riders. Thats due in part to those areas being served with the extention are Seattle's densest neighborhoods.

Also, this fall in the Puget Sound metro area (home to 4 million lovely residents) Sound Transit (our regional transit agency) will be asking voters to approve an expansion of service with more commuter rail and light rail and more express bus service. Knowing the residents of the area, they will approve the measure. :)

More info: www.soundtransit.org

2. Spokane: This little city of 200,000 and metro 650,000 will be asking voters this fall to approve a light rail segment that will be approximately 15-20 miles. It will serve the eastern suburbs of Spokane Valley and onto Liberty Lake. It's VERY controversial! Things in Spokane are much more conservative and typical of a western city. I do have hope though. If Salt Lake City can do it (and theyre FAR less dense than Spokane), then Spokane can do a better job! So, this fall we'll keep our eyes open.

More info: www.spokanelightrail.com

Hope that helped! Thanks for reading!

Right on Randy. While so many people were crying about the circus the monorail had become Sound Transit was quietly building the light rail. Once these rails start they tend to continue. I can't wait to see trains in the tunnel.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I might not know, but is there a proposed light rail between Washington DC and Baltimore? I know there is dire need for one, there are three freeways connecting those cities and it leads to much worse sprawl in Maryland. Maryland has adopted a smart growth initative which calls for old buildings to be rehabbed and land use adjustment so people don't develop all over the areas near Baltimore and Washington.

If they build one in all, they should take down the freeway and put the rail in its place. What do you guys think?

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