Supertrains to Nowhere

[phantom power]

In an article comparing two exurbs, Badler thinks the unthinkable.

Ideally, trains should be built in advance of, not after, residential and commercial development. That is how the subways were built in New York City a century ago, where they extended to the then-rural far reaches of the outer boroughs while the commuter train went to small towns that are now big suburbs. This allowed dense development nodes to spring up around the train stations. As a result, New York has the best mass-transit use in the nation: 57 percent of New York City commuters use mass transit to get to work, whereas 85 percent of the nation's workers need a car to get to their job. New York is also proof that traffic is good: Many of those commuters would drive were it not for Manhattan's density and resulting traffic snarls during business hours.

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_tale_of_two_exurbs

It's almost impossible to imagine now, but right now we build highways to nowhere in advance of development. That drives the development patterns, and makes it difficult and perhaps pointless to later add in any kind of mass transit. Back in the good old days before widespread automobile use, train lines drove the development patterns, including in the original streetcar city, Los Angeles.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/04/supertrains-to-nowhere.html

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. That's really interesting, actually.

It gives the government a fair amount of large scale development planning ability, which if used thoughtfully, could be good for resource consumption and the environment.

[Kolesar]

3. There is a term for it: "transit oriented development"

Communities like Alexandria, VA have had impressive growth near the Metro stations.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. And that is why the "there is not enough perceived need for the development

of light rail" argument is so totally bogus.

People have been trying to develop light rail in the triangle for years, but because it won't automatically pay for itself from the get go it is continually shot down. Never mind that the very building of it would CREATE jobs and markets and passengers, while at the same time decreasing congestion on the highways to and from Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary/RTP (does that mean the triangle is no longer a triangle?).

But no, planned development sounds too socialistic or something.

[phantom power]

4. People think nothing of it when this is done with roads.

A sort of fish-in-water thing. It sounds "odd" to think of doing this with mass transit, but that is only because the culture of the last 50 years has thought very little about mass transit in any context.

[pscot]

5. The cargo cult model of urban planning

South Sea Islanders were doing this 200 years ago. If you build it they will come.

[phantom power]

6. People tend to live where they have access to transportation.

So when we build it, they do come. Statistically speaking.

[depakid]

7. MAX light rail spawned just such development on the Sunset corridor

Orenco Station is an interesting case in point:

http://www.terrain.org/unsprawl/10/

[NNadir]

8. Bad idea. It would be better to deal with our existing sprawl.

We cannot and should not bulldoze more virgin land.

[phantom power]

9. I agree about the virgin land thing...

But the principle applies in urban transit build-out too. For example, a lot of the argumentation against the Phoenix light-rail project has been insufficient density near the right of way. On the other hand, now that we have a light rail corridor, it provides an opportunity for people to say "hey, let's site that new condo/apartment complex next to the light rail!"

One you have the infrastructure, it lowers the barrier to higher density new-urban development. Build it, and they might come.

[tinrobot]

10. Bulldoze the suburbs instead.

Use the reclaimed land to create mass transit corridors.

With sufficient mass transit, they'll cease to be suburbs and will become urban centers with higher population densities.

[NNadir]

11. I agree.

There should be a move afoot to save virgin forest as well as farm land.