High Speed Rail to Dallas?

[Architect]

I'm curious which city people in central Arkansas are more likely to visit, Memphis or Dallas. Although I guess it's hard to compare, Memphis is quite a bit closer. I could see Dallas being a higher draw. It is bigger and has a lot more to do overall. But as I said earlier, it's also further away. If that HSR network ever does come about hooking up to Dallas gives you a lot more options as well.

[skirby]

Dallas is definitely the more dynamic metro---it's well on its way to be one of the mega metros if it is not considered already.

That said, my family visited Memphis a whole lot more: a day trip vs overnight trip.

If I just make a quick trip to Memphis, then light rail sounds swell, but if I stay in Memphis for a few days, I'd be hesitant to rely on public transportation rather than just driving 2 hours... In Dallas, I think I'd be more prone to using light rail due to its farther distance and better public transportation.

[johnnydr87]

Gotta start somewhere. I would hope that by building a national high speed rail system, the natural progression would be intra-city light rail.

If LR enacted codes that encouraged growth in its core rather than sprawl, then a more robust public transportation system could evolve. I think the heritage street car rail is a good transition--I'm impressed that NLR and LR had the foresight to implement that. I could see a good tram system replacing it in 20 yrs time. A good model of an ideal transportation system for LR to follow would be Portland's. Portland enacted some of the most progressive laws to encourage bike/pedestrian and public transportation. Now it's a hot spot for young, educated people (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124242099361525009.html). It has attracted an excess of young people, though, so it has a high unemployment rate. BUT, that's a good problem to have: too many young, educated people. It bodes well for the city's future. Heck, nearly every college student I have talked to about post grad plans, Portland gets mentioned as a hot spot and top choice (including myself)...

[akahogfan]

Gotta start somewhere. I would hope that by building a national high speed rail system, the natural progression would be intra-city light rail.

[Mith242]

Gotta start somewhere. I would hope that by building a national high speed rail system, the natural progression would be intra-city light rail.

A good model of an ideal transportation system for LR to follow would be Portland's. Portland enacted some of the most progressive laws to encourage bike/pedestrian and public transportation.

[Mith242]

While I would love for that to happen, I don't think that we currently have enough money to start new projects and fix the infrastructure that we already have. There was a great documentary on History last night called "The Crumbling of America" that was quite eyeopening as to the needs that we have now. Would national light rail help to relieve some of the burden on other infrastructure? Yes, but not nearly enough to make a very big difference. Our Infrastructure "GPA" as given by the US Army Corp of Engineers was a D, with only two areas receiving a group high of C+. They then estimated that it would cost $2.5 trillion over the next 5 years to raise the average to a B, and that only covers the issues that they know about.

Personally, I highly doubt that anything will get done in this regard until people start dying from these issues. Infrastructure maintenance has been practically ignored for the last 35 years, and Obama has already burned through way too much political capitol to ask for that kind of spending right now.

[hogwash]

Gotta start somewhere. I would hope that by building a national high speed rail system, the natural progression would be intra-city light rail.

If LR enacted codes that encouraged growth in its core rather than sprawl, then a more robust public transportation system could evolve. I think the heritage street car rail is a good transition--I'm impressed that NLR and LR had the foresight to implement that. I could see a good tram system replacing it in 20 yrs time. A good model of an ideal transportation system for LR to follow would be Portland's. Portland enacted some of the most progressive laws to encourage bike/pedestrian and public transportation. Now it's a hot spot for young, educated people (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124242099361525009.html). It has attracted an excess of young people, though, so it has a high unemployment rate. BUT, that's a good problem to have: too many young, educated people. It bodes well for the city's future. Heck, nearly every college student I have talked to about post grad plans, Portland gets mentioned as a hot spot and top choice (including myself)...

[johnnydr87]

Good points... Of course, I agree that circumstances are more complicated in LR than I let on--especially with what you mentioned about perception of crime, schools, free/easy parking, and "those people."

[akahogfan]

Not to get us off topic onto politics but this reminded me of something mentioned at the light rail meeting in Fayetteville recently. Take the money used for the war in Iraq and you could have built 200 light rail systems for US metros. Would have been something to imagine two thirds of US metros with a light rail system.

[skirby]

Not to get us off topic onto politics but this reminded me of something mentioned at the light rail meeting in Fayetteville recently. Take the money used for the war in Iraq and you could have built 200 light rail systems for US metros. Would have been something to imagine two thirds of US metros with a light rail system.

[Mith242]

What are you drinking? You know if the war didn't happen the money wouldn't have been spent on light rail. If it was spent on infrastructure it would have been spent on expanded highways and bridges to no where. If we are going to dream how about not spending the money at all.

[EJC]

I was simply pointing out something that was mentioned by a study done on light rail. I never said that money would have been used on light rail had the war never happened. But putting the money into infrastructure would have served us all a lot better than wasting it on a war that solved nothing.

[johnnydr87]

I'm pretty sure the political discussion was broken in quite a bit earlier.