small roads are built out to the middle of nowhere all the time — where there is zero density. by your standard, they are not viable. so if we’re going to build anything, should it _not_ be viable out in the sticks, or _not_ viable in the core? at least in town, we’d be preserving greenspace–at a minimum. and more than likely, dense areas will survive and thrive — as seen globally, with more than 50% of the world’s population now living in cities.

there’s also the issue of urban growth boundaries — which, i don’t believe georgia–like most states–has heard of yet. that will continue to fuel government subsidizing builders to go further and further out. so, us smart-growth, small-government activists still have some work to do there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_growth_boundary

downtown augusta has other huge draws — a beautiful river with a lovely Riverwalk along it, a canal which will soon open to kayaking, and great, old architecture, great climate, etc. it’s got the ’sense of place’ that neighboring Columbia County would die for. downtown Augusta has the natural amenities that people developed here for in the first place. as JHK says–there’s a reason things developed where they developed.

add rising fuel prices, global warming, a new awareness of livable streets and how it/they connect to larger issues of healthcare and social inclusion and global warming and all the rest — and downtown anywhere is a sure winner. add a streetcar, and it’ll only happen faster, imho. :)

I’d like to see some data on how the size of a particular downtown affects the viability of streetcars. We know that streetcars can help drive density, and thus streetcars are ’self-fulfilling’. how many people have to live ‘downtown’ to support a streetcar line?

its downtown too filled with abandoned lots

same argument. streetcars attract development, mixed use if done right. downtown already seems to be making a comeback. new/first grocery store opening on Broad Street for the first time in forever on June 30 — ‘Du Jour’.

still lots of available apartments, but condos have been built, and more development appears on the way, if only slowed by the recession.

the Obama stimulus is going to employ a lot of people at two of the three area’s largest employers — Savannah River Site (nukes) and Fort Gordon (Army Signal) — both 20 miles away from downtown, southeast and soutwest, respectively. The Medical College of Georgia is a mile or two from downtown, and the entire medical complex employs about 25,000 people, worth almost $2 Billion in economic activity, with more on the way. I suspect the med campus would be on the route.

incidentally, the main street in downtown Augusta, Broad Street, is one of the most fantastic streets i’ve ever been on.

too little of a history of mass transit usage.

don’t know about this. nobody i’ve ever met likes to ride the bus — bus is not transit. so saying that there is ‘too little history of mass transit usage’ is like saying China has too little history with state capitalism — looks to me like they’re taking to it like a fish to water.

i’m guessing we could make plenty of statements about mass transit use in plenty of places that never before had real transit. maybe Phoenix? (which has a new light rail line that people love)

Augusta used to have a trolley lines, including one that ran up to Aiken — why not again?

:)

I’m no fan of “heritage” trolleys. Put them in the museum.

Fifty years of technological advances in Europe have given us low-floor streetcars that allow step-on boarding from the curb. Low-floor cars transform the boarding experience for parents with kids in strollers, for people in wheelchairs, for old folks and others with a touch of arthritis or similar difficulties in climbing the steps to enter a “heritage” type vehicle. And for all other people in line behind them.

Sleek, modern, off the shelf streetcars could make sense if putting in the tracks could really be done for $25 million. You say many empty lots, so transit oriented development might infill the vacant space, adding directly to the tax base and probably improving the value of the buildings now abutting vacant lots.

Usually we expect to put rail into a corridor with proven passenger loads on buses. But rail is always more energy efficient, gets about 10% more riders than a bus ever can attract, and will generate TOD.

If Augusta wants to try streetcars now for only $25 million, it’s not a budget busting deal. Hey, I can name four big banks that just the other day each got 1,000 times that much money. And what did the taxpayers of Augusta get out of that? Gimme a streetcar any day.

LINK

LINK