I think this whole discussion is much ado about nothing. I'm sure the way it will be addressed is that the city will make quite sure that the trains will not make a lengthy stop at a station while blocking a major arterial. Judging from estimates of ridership that I've seen, I doubt that trains will be longer than four cars. The time it takes these to cross an intersection, including time for the gates to go down, is probably less than thirty seconds. We're not talking about a 200-car freight train.
I am actually surprised that this keeps surfacing as an issue. I'm guessing it's because transit opponents either don't know the difference between a four-car train and a 200-car one, or that they assume that all train stations will be designed in such a way to maximize waiting and blocking of commuter traffic. Which, I'm certain, is not the case. In any event, Joe is correct in mentioning that the initial routes generally go parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the major arterials. But the issue keeps cropping up, so maybe the Transport 2020 people should address it officially, if they haven't already. I remember a headline from the Scab Urinal from a while back that said (I'm paraphrasing), "Commuter Rail Will Increase Congestion," and talking about the traffic backed up while waiting the 20 seconds for the train to pass. Should we have a headline saying, "Stop Lights Increase Congestion." We've had these same tired discussions with the nimbyites in the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood who are pulling out all the stops in trying to derail high-speed rail. >>> Joseph King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 01/22/03 01:08PM >>> It is not clear how or where this should be addressed. When applied to the most talked about commuter line, however, it is mostly absurd. In any event, it would be nice to have a traffic model that demonstrates what the overall short-term and long-term effects on travel time would be _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
