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Light Rail?


KCghettoboi

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What is going on with all these voters, in all these major cities not passing "lightrail" purposals? Are these voters old people afraid to get taxed a few extra cents? I don't know about other cities but KC is in dire need of a LightRail system....Our airport(KCI) sits 30 minutes north of DownTown. It now takes 35-40 minutes to drive from one side of the of the metro to the other side(the developed portion),in low traffic, in high traffic it may take up to an hour. and about the same from north to south. LightRail is not a novelty for KC it's something we need if people are going to continue to visit our city. I'm sure this is a problem for other major metro's also...

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KCghettoboi, let me add my two cents about travel times to DT to Airport. There are still a number of cities with airports not served by rail lines. Others are lucky enough to have direct rail service DT to airport.

The following are a list of cities that have current rail connections to airports:

- San Francisco. BART recently opened the SFO Airport extension last year. Takes about 20 minutes to downtown. The bad news is since BART's fares are based on zones, SFO faregates are expensive, from $3.75 to $7.50. BART is proposing a monorail feeder to Oakland Airport due to heavy traffic on the main street to it.

- Atlanta. Takes 15 minutes to Five Points from Hartsfield-Jackson on the South Line.

- Chicago. The Blue Line could sure use an express line from OHare; 45 minutes sucks big time. I'd rather go 30 minutes to the Loop coming from Midway Airport on the Orange Line.

- Baltimore. The MTA Light Rail serves BWI.

- Boston. The T has a station at Logan Airport.

- Minneapolis. The Lindbergh Airport extension on the newest LRT should open in December.

- St. Louis. Metrolink has two stations at Lambert Airport. The westernmost station opened later than the eastern one.

- New York. The AirTrain shuttle now goes from JFK Airport to two nearby NYC Subway stations.

- Cleveland. The first rail line to serve an airport (Hopkins) back in 1968.

- Portland. Airport MAX opened in 2001, tragically the same week as 9/11. Despite that, ridership rose from DT to PDX.

- Washington, DC. METRO serves Raegan Airport on the Blue and Yellow Lines. Future extensions to Dulles.

These cities have rail extensions to airports proposed are: Houston (Bush Intercontinental and HobbY), Dallas (Love Field and DFW), Miami, Denver and Las Vegas Monorail. Cities that should have rail lines go right to the airport are: LA METRO - the Green Line doesn't even touch LAX; shuttle buses go there instead. Poor planning for their city that size.

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urbanrail, I just don't want a LightRail system from DT to the airport, I want a LR system that connects the entire metro... From the eastern part of the KCmetro to the western part of the metro is a long drive, which is so long I only go to the western part of the metro probably once a year. There are still parts of southern Kansas City I have never been to, because it's a hassle to drive there...

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another reason KC is in such dire need of a LR system is KC is in 2 states. for exp. alot of people form the missouri half of the metro will not go over to the kansas half, because they do not know their way around. Missouri roads and highways are different from Kansas roads and highways...basically Kansas Citians will not travel to the other half of the metro because they will get lost, even if they've lived in the city their whole life...therefore a LR system will unite the city, something every city needs...

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There are plans to build an Amtrak/Commuter Rail station at TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island (Providence's airport). TF Green's terminal is the closest terminal to an active Amtrak line. The commuter rail will contect to Providence and Boston.

Baltimore's BWI is served by light rail and Amtrak.

Boston has an Airport station on the Blue Line, it is debatable if it actually counts as an airport/rail link, as subway passengers need to transfer to shuttle buses to access the terminals, the subway station is situated just off airport property. There were plans to build a monorail to conect the subway station to the terminals and ferry terminals, however that plan probably was victim to Big Dig costs.

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Chicago: Unlike the Blue Line inside the O'Hare Terminal, the Orange Line terminates right across the street to the entrance to Midway Airport, but it is linked by a walkway. They said it was built that way to accomodate future extensions in SW Chicago since the Orange Line is only 10 years old. The Blue Line terminal at O'Hare, which is 20 years old, was rushed in construction around election time, which is why it terminates inside it. Had it not been this way, it would have continued to the NW chicagoland suburbs on the same stretch of line instead of antoher branch.

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