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River Rail

skirby

By skirby
in Little Rock Metropolitan Area

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  • 2 weeks later...
Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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Trolley # 412 has arrived. This brings the total to 5 streetcars for the River Rial System. The trolley barn in North Little Rock will be expanded to hold 8 cars. At this time it can only shelter 4.

I would like to see the Trolley Barn expanded and redone at some point. Maybe at some point in the future when all of this NLR development has occurred it can become a mixed use "Argenta Station" development with lofts, retail, and offices and function as the end of the route.

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skirby Town

skirby

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I would like to see the Trolley Barn expanded and redone at some point. Maybe at some point in the future when all of this NLR development has occurred it can become a mixed use "Argenta Station" development with lofts, retail, and offices and function as the end of the route.

The trolley barn orginally was to be covered with brick but due to lack of funds the brick work was cut back.

As I have mentioned before I would like to see a parking deck built to the east of the barn. The trolley barn fronts 7th Street and this street would be good for redevelopment. The P&R project is to be built on Main just south of the barn. The large lot between Main St. and the barn is being shopped around for development.

South side of the trolley barn.

dscf2995sy8.jpg

Looking across Main St. at the west side of the barn.

dscf2999to0.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
Architect Town

Architect

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The trolley system will hopefully be extended down Main Street. I read that the possible next phase will be in North Little Rock to the new ball park. With all the new condos going in along Main, it would be a great idea to go all the way to the Harvest Foods at 17th.

I agree. This would GREATLY facilitate and re-energize the mixed-use retail and residential development not just in the CBD downtown, but also to south main and its retail and consequently the Quapaw Quarter and the MacArthur Park Historic District.

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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I agree. This would GREATLY facilitate and re-energize the mixed-use retail and residential development not just in the CBD downtown, but also to south main and its retail and consequently the Quapaw Quarter and the MacArthur Park Historic District.

I think the Quapaw Quarter needs a mini-police station/kiosk along the lines of what downtown NLR has or what the River Market has and maybe some late night bike or horse patrols. Residential and commercial development/redevelopment is being deterred by vagrancy, vandalism, and begging - especially around Juanita's and Midtown on weekends.

I think the trolley would help, no doubt.

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skirby Town

skirby

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There may be a delay in the opening of the extension to the River Rail. The switches have not been delivered at this time. Also, the poles near the end of the extension will have to be made taller. The reason for this is they are next tp the railraod tracks. The Union Pacific said they were a foot too short. Because the bus barn only holds four trolleys, #410 is now parked under a bus barn a few blocks away from the trolley barn. Because there is no track between the trolley and bus barns they had to haul it over their on a truck.

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arkansas_buff Whistle-Stop

arkansas_buff

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The city of Little Rock has hired James Lee Witt Associates (a lobbyist group in DC) for $75,000, which will be split by the airport and port authority, to help secure appropriations for city projects. According to AR Biz, one of the projects includes extending the River Rail to the airport.

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skirby Town

skirby

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The city of Little Rock has hired James Lee Witt Associates (a lobbyist group in DC) for $75,000, which will be split by the airport and port authority, to help secure appropriations for city projects. According to AR Biz, one of the projects includes extending the River Rail to the airport.

I don't think an extension to the airport is a good idea at this time. If a person was at a downtown hotel and wanted to use the trolley to get to the airport they would have to walk to the trolley stop with their luggage. Most of the stops are not covered. Then wait for the trolley. Then when they got on they would have to find a place for their luggage.

They need to build some covered stops, Memphis has some nice ones, and think about moving the Peabody stop one block to the West. There is only one covered stop on the Little Rock side and one on the North Little Rock side.

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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I don't think an extension to the airport is a good idea at this time. If a person was at a downtown hotel and wanted to use the trolley to get to the airport they would have to walk to the trolley stop with their luggage. Most of the stops are not covered. Then wait for the trolley. Then when they got on they would have to find a place for their luggage.

They need to build some covered stops, Memphis has some nice ones, and think about moving the Peabody stop one block to the West. There is only one covered stop on the Little Rock side and one on the North Little Rock side.

Right now, that would not be a very pretty ride. I can tell you that much.

I'd rather see it go down Main or to the Train Station before adding airport service. We also really need to connect the River Rail to the River Cities Travel Center somehow.

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theman Hamlet

theman

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Since the inception of the River Rail one of the components has been a connection to Little Rock National. I think it is a good idea. Most business travelers are packing light so they don't have to check luggage, so the bags they have to carry wouldn't be large at all. A small bag and a laptop case at the most. They shouldn't extend the trolley line until there are concrete plans to build a new terminal and the trolley stop should be tied into it.

The covered stops are the ones that have sponsorships now. I think there are two covered stops in Little Rock, the Peabody Stop and the Historic Arkansas Museum Stop if I'm not mistaken and the one that is covered in NLR is the Alltel Arena Stop. Once the others get sponsors, they will have cover also. I don't know why the LR Chamber hasn't sponsored the stop next to its building and maybe First Security sponsoring the one a block from it in the River Market.

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Architect Town

Architect

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It should be noted, and I have before, that the current hardware being used on the rails - i.e. "Trolleys" - are not well suited for higher speed point-to-point connections such as the airport to downtown. That being said, the infrastructure in place - as I understand it - works just as well for a multi-car, light-rail "train" as it were. Rails and power are the same.

Admittedly, the "trolleys" are cute and perhaps appropriate for an entertainment district, but I'd rather have seen the city purchase more modern, flexible cars that would have served much better in any expansion to provide real point-to-point service.

Regardless, I am very supportive of a rail connection to the airport - particularly in conjuction with the new planned terminal.

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skirby Town

skirby

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I'm all for waiting for finalized plans on a new terminal and tying the trolly line into that. You're talking about 4 miles of track, which wouldn't be too bad of a trip. Keeping it close to the riverfront might help the asthetics of the ride.

What other stops will be included besides the one at the airport terminal? Will it also service Central Flying Service, etc?

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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It should be noted, and I have before, that the current hardware being used on the rails - i.e. "Trolleys" - are not well suited for higher speed point-to-point connections such as the airport to downtown. That being said, the infrastructure in place - as I understand it - works just as well for a multi-car, light-rail "train" as it were. Rails and power are the same.

Admittedly, the "trolleys" are cute and perhaps appropriate for an entertainment district, but I'd rather have seen the city purchase more modern, flexible cars that would have served much better in any expansion to provide real point-to-point service.

Regardless, I am very supportive of a rail connection to the airport - particularly in conjuction with the new planned terminal.

It seems to work fine to go longer distances in New Orleans. LR probably isn't big enough for long-range light rail outside of the airport so I think it's reasonable to use the trolley to link to the airport. They should be able to make the 4-mile trip to the airport in 10 min or so and for that short a distance I think it's fine. Any light rail would either have to be subterranean or elevated and that's pricy.

At one point I'd heard monorail to the airport discussed. If you could connect the airport to the River Cities Travel Center with this and connect the trolley to the RCTC that would give travelers an easy way to get around town. However, monorail is EXPENSIVE.

Either way, I hope we can clean up the area between the airport and downtown some before this occurs. Otherwise nobody would ever want to come back.

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Architect Town

Architect

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It seems to work fine to go longer distances in New Orleans. LR probably isn't big enough for long-range light rail outside of the airport so I think it's reasonable to use the trolley to link to the airport. They should be able to make the 4-mile trip to the airport in 10 min or so and for that short a distance I think it's fine. Any light rail would either have to be subterranean or elevated and that's pricy.

At one point I'd heard monorail to the airport discussed. If you could connect the airport to the River Cities Travel Center with this and connect the trolley to the RCTC that would give travelers an easy way to get around town. However, monorail is EXPENSIVE.

Either way, I hope we can clean up the area between the airport and downtown some before this occurs. Otherwise nobody would ever want to come back.

I agree that the trolleys would technically work, its just that they're not really built for that purpose and it would seem odd to me over that distance. Its more of a point-to-point 4 mile trip which would typically see different hardware. However, if it came down to that or nothing, I'd obviously prefer some rail connection.

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theman Hamlet

theman

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It seems to work fine to go longer distances in New Orleans. LR probably isn't big enough for long-range light rail outside of the airport so I think it's reasonable to use the trolley to link to the airport. They should be able to make the 4-mile trip to the airport in 10 min or so and for that short a distance I think it's fine. Any light rail would either have to be subterranean or elevated and that's pricy.

At one point I'd heard monorail to the airport discussed. If you could connect the airport to the River Cities Travel Center with this and connect the trolley to the RCTC that would give travelers an easy way to get around town. However, monorail is EXPENSIVE.

Either way, I hope we can clean up the area between the airport and downtown some before this occurs. Otherwise nobody would ever want to come back.

Memphis is planning to build an extension of its trolley system to Memphis International and I believe that is more than 4 miles to the downtown area.

I think I read somewhere that the current street cars can reach of up to 20 mph so it wouldn' take long to make the trip from the airport to downtown.

Other stops along the way would have to include any new developments between the airport and downtown, but it may just be a direct connection between downtown and the airport.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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I saw the River Rail mentioned on one of the Southern USA topics about transit. He mentioned that he thought it was just for tourism. Then I got to then I wasn't sure what all it was used for so I thought I'd ask you guys what you think River Rail is mainly used for.

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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I saw the River Rail mentioned on one of the Southern USA topics about transit. He mentioned that he thought it was just for tourism. Then I got to then I wasn't sure what all it was used for so I thought I'd ask you guys what you think River Rail is mainly used for.

It's mostly for tourism and getting from the hotels to the convention center and restaurants. Right now it's too short to be too useful in terms of a transportation network but even if we can expand it to get around downtown fully it will be used a lot more. It really needs to connect to Alltel Arena and the new ballpark. That would do wonders for its ridership. As some have said, connecting to the airport would greatly expand its utility. Business travelers could leave their cars at the office and head straight to the airport and guests would never have to rent a car.

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