October « 2009 « The Transport Politic

Amtrak Contemplates a Renewed Northeast Corridor and Lays Out the Stakes

October 26th, 2009 |

» A full regeneration of the line, speeding trains between New York and Boston in just over three hours, would cost $10.2 billion.

After releasing studies last week that described the costs and benefits or new long-distance rail services, Amtrak has produced a report evaluating opportunities for its most important line, the Northeast Corridor. Long in the coming, the study documents capital needs for the tracks connecting Washington, DC and Boston and provides some preliminary cost estimates for decreasing travel times. With most federal rail capital funds now likely to be earmarked for states pursuing new rail programs like California, Illinois, and

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Seattle’s East Link: I-90 or SR520?

October 23rd, 2009 |

9 Comments

» A shift to SR520 could be a big step back, but Mayoral candidate McGinn wants both, starting with I-90. Is he promising too much?

In a Wednesday night mayoral debate, candidates for the post of Mayor of Seattle Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan debated the future of the SR520 bridge, which connects Seattle and Bellevue over Lake Washington. Mr. McGinn, who has run a strong pro-transit campaign, suggested running light rail over the bridge, instead of expanding the number of car lanes, a position that Mr. Mallahan endorsed and which is currently in planning. According to Mr. McGinn, light

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One Year of The Transport Politic

October 22nd, 2009 |

25 Comments

» It’s been a good one.

Thanks to everyone who has read my posts and joined the discussion on The Transport Politic over the past year. I really appreciate the community we’ve created here.

For your information:

This is the 396th post
There have been 3,565 comments (at publishing)
Visitor location: 82% from the U.S.; 5% from Canada; 2% from the U.K.; 2% from France
Visitor browser: 42% Firefox; 29% Internet Explorer; 21% Safari; 6% Chrome
Top referrers: Infrastructurist, Seattle Transit Blog, California High-Speed Rail Blog
Top search keywords: “texas t-bone corridor,” “china high-speed rail,” “cta rail line olympics”
The most popular post, by far, is A Future Interstate Rail

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Los Angeles Has Big Transit Ambitions, But Which Project Comes First?

October 22nd, 2009 |

55 Comments

» The Mayor’s prioritization of a subway beneath Wilshire Boulevard meets opposition from congressmen representing areas east and south of downtown.

With the passage of Measure R last November, Los Angeles bought itself a massive expansion of its rapid transit network. The system, which currently consists of three light rail lines and two heavy rail corridors, is already being expanded in two directions. Over the next thirty years, new services are planned for virtually everywhere in the 10 million-person county. But Metro, the region’s transit provider, will have to determine which projects to prioritize as it competes for federal funding

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