Quote:
Originally Posted by Steadfast
IMO, I think this idea is ridiculous.
If the route to the airport had some major elevation gains... Then maybe. But as it is, it's just a tacky dodge to avoid having to do some real civic planning. The city needs to find a way to get the trolley to the airport.
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The route to the airport is completely and totally flat, but an aerial tram would sidestep the primary problem with getting the trolley directly to the airport terminals: crossing the freight train rail-line between the blue line and the waterfront. You can't run directly across it, since heavy rail and light rail can't share the same right of way safely, and you can't shut the line down (even temporarily for construction) since that would cut off the port and the navy base's primary means of transporting goods. So the only option is to build a grade separated crossing, which would almost assuredly be below grade, while thousands of tons of freight pass overhead every night. It's actually completely possible from an engineering standpoint, similar projects have been done elsewhere, but the additional cost completely screws up the value proposition. If SANDAG had the billion dollars it'd take just laying around they'd build a trolley line from Downtown to North Park or from PB to the 15 instead.
There are still a ton of problems with an aerial tram though. It's a bright idea, but there's a lot more issues with this than just construction cost.
edit:
Found the feasibility study itself, it self acknowledges that it doesn't fully cover potential community and environmental concerns.