John Boyle
Wed, 14 Aug 2002 04:00:59 -0700
Op-Ed piece is online at http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5023329&BRD=2275&PAG=461&dept_id=466401&rfi=8 The Lansdale Reporter www.reporteronline.com 08/12/2002 The best use of rail corridors is for active passenger and freight trains. The second best use is for multipurpose rail-to-trails. I wonder how much longer we have to endure empty or little used rail corridors such as the North Penn or Newtown SEPTA rail lines? It’s been more than 20 years since passenger service has stopped and the cost to restart train service keeps on rising ($200 million and $60 million respectively). These rarely used corridors are wasted regional assets. Converting them to trails can make our communities more livable‚ healthy and increase real estate values. The Schuylkill Valley Metro is a good idea‚ but has a price tag of more than $1 billion. There is a tremendous amount of effort from local officials and Greater Philadelphia First to find funding‚ but I wonder how much money and effort will be left to re-establish passenger rail service in existing corridors. It is time to determine the cost and benefits of rail-to-trails before another 20 years pass. There are more than 12‚000 miles of successful rail-to-trails throughout the nation. The top 10 count is more than 1 million users per year. A million users a year for a few million dollars sounds like a good investment when you add in all the community benefits. Ken Edmonds Souderton http://www.bikemap.com The Bikes on Transit database _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley list named "bike." To subscribe or unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.