BIKE: Re: New Cap Metro long-range plan

[Jeb Boyt]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Mike Dahmus <mdahmus>
Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 08:26:18 -0500

RwT is very unlikely. Cap Metro is going to need to double-track a few 
portions of this route immediately (and in the long-term, all of it); and I 
doubt there is sufficient width in the corridor to put that and a 10-foot 
trail in.
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We have had serious and encouraging discussions with Cap Metro regarding 
having rails with trails.  In many places there is ample width to have 
double-track AND a trail.  Also, Cap Metro is interested in having the 
trails as ways to access their stations and as a route for riders to take 
when they disembark.

----Original Message Follows----
Commuter rail has not, in other cities, ever lead to redevelopment. This is 
wishful thinking. The line only runs during rush hours, and at poor 
frequencies - this is not enough to convince people to move to a 
high-density development.
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Redevelopment adjacent to transit is happening in Dallas, Portland, and 
other cities that have added rail over the last 15 years.

----Original Message Follows----
From:  David Foster
>As for rapid bus: I would much rather see rail or street cars of some kind 
>connecting to UT, the Capitol complex and downtown. I am willing only to 
>countenance rapid bus as a temporary measure on the way to other, better 
>connections.
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I agree, I also would prefer to see such a system.

You know, we had that system, and they tore it out in the 50s due to a 
number of short-sighted and misguided decisions (our "greatest generation" 
at work).  The development over the last 50 years, though, now makes it very 
difficult to get any form of street rail through the Central City.  In order 
to make it happen, we are probably going to have to knock down buildings 
and/or take out parking, and I don't think that anyone is ready to put such 
a proposal on the table.

We are probably at least ten years away from a ballot measure authorizing 
rail in the Central City.  Bus rapid transit is what we have to work with 
now, and it is a means of building the ridership and infrastructure to 
support some form of fixed mass transit in the future.  If Cap Metro's 
current commuter rail fails, it may well be 20 years, if not longer, before 
we see another rail proposal on a ballot.

Jeb