charleston.net : The Great Train Debate
Sunday, July 6, 2008
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Interstate 26 is by far our most important and heavily traveled roadway in the Charleston metropolitan area.
On a typical workday, roughly 140,000 vehicles roll through its busiest stretches — 160 a minute during the morning rush.
Most of the time, I-26 efficiently speeds motorists between downtown Charleston and Summerville in 20 to 25 minutes. But rush hour is a different story.
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89 comment(s) / read/add comments |
Monday, July 7, 2008
Commuter trains aren't cheap. They can cost taxpayers anywhere from $1.3 million to $10 million a mile to build. Highways aren't cheap either. Consider what's in store for Interstate 26. Planners and engineers are working on plans to add two lanes to I-26 from the Neck Area through North Charleston, about 8.2 miles. If and when the state finishes this expansion, an eight-lane highway will run through the heart of the metro area.
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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Would a commuter train from Charleston to Summerville cost $46 million, or something closer to $146 million?
"That's the sort of thing we are trying to figure out," said Jennifer Humphreys, a senior transportation analyst with Wilbur Smith Associates who is leading the region's third study of commuter rail.
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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CHARLOTTE — The Lynx arrives quietly, rolling on seamless rails that will carry about 6,300 people on this weekday morning from park-and-ride lots on the outskirts of the city to jobs downtown. The Lynx is an electric light-rail system that started running in November and quickly exceeded ridership predictions.
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
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Nashville's Music City Star, a commuter train similar to one proposed for the Charleston area, offers a cautionary tale for rail supporters here.
The good news from Nashville is that the Music City Star was put into service in 2005 for just $41 million, making it the least-expensive commuter rail project in the nation.
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40 comment(s) / read/add comments |
Friday, July 11, 2008
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About 18 million people live in metropolitan New York City, and on a typical day, they take about 7 million trips on subway and commuter railcars. Millions more in Chicago and other major league metro areas do the same thing. Charleston? North Charleston? When it comes to population, we're clearly in the minor leagues, which raises a key question in the debate over a commuter railroad: Are there enough people here to ride one?
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108 comment(s) / read/add comments |
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A train linking Charleston to Summerville is far from a novel idea. A century ago, commuter trains whisked passengers to Summerville faster than rush-hour motorists often make the trip today.
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1 comment(s) / read/add comments |
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Some people just love trains and trolleys, those nostalgic forms of transportation now held out as modern solutions to suburban sprawl.
There also are those who seem to despise rail transportation, ranking passenger trains somewhere between a government boondoggle and an outright threat to the American way of life.
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32 comment(s) / read/add comments |
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