View Single Post
  #887  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2013, 6:01 AM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
If Rancho wants a streetcar they will pretty much have to tax themselves or compete for TIGER funding along with everyone else, it isn't necessarily something that Regional Transit selects of their own accord. Streetcars are about one-third as expensive per mile as light rail, all else being equal, but they don't have the speed or capacity of light rail--which is why they're better for moving people short distances within a city, vs. functioning as an intercity commuter vehicle.

A streetcar line along Watt (say running between Watt/I-80 and Sunrise) makes a certain sense, as a high-frequency replacement for the bus routes that currently run that way. But there is no city government to work with there at all, and the rich folks in the hidden neighborhoods off Watt Avenue would scream bloody murder at the thought of more transit in their neck of the woods. Sunrise would work the same way--probably a route from Sunrise/Folsom to Sunrise Mall, but you'd need buy-in from Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and risk the ire of another comparatively-wealthy unincorporated area. The folks in Rancho Murieta would not be pleased.

The line-to-the-airport idea is hugely expensive, runs through a lot of areas that still flood, and nobody lives there, because it still floods. It just won't happen soon, and probably shouldn't. A dedicated BRT/express bus lane from Sacramento Valley Station to the airport via I-5 would be technically simpler and a lot less expensive to implement.

A regional transit district can't just march in and tell a city "You folks are getting light rail whether you want it or not!" They work for the subject cities, not the other way around.

Regional growth depends on a strong core city, but a lot of the development community is stuck on the idea that we can be a region of nothing but suburbs, to the point where they depopulated our downtown long ago to avoid the risk that it might become a strong urban center. Knitting together our urban fabric has to start from the center, and the only way to do that is by replacing the traditional downtown urban transit mechanisms.
Reply With Quote