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Cities Jump on the Light Rail Bandwagon! Salt Lake City, Utah, opened their first 15 mile light rail line on December 6, 1999. It runs from the Delta Center downtown south along a former railroad right-of-way to the suburb of Sandy. Just approved is an extension of the system to the University of Utah. Portland, Oregon, adding to its already extensive light rail system, has started construction on a new line to its airport. Service will start in 2001. Daily ridership on Portland’s Gresham to Hillsboro MAX line has now reached 63,000, jumping from less than 30,000 when the first light rail line opened in 1986. Further extensions are planned. Busway Cities Fall to Appeal of Light RailOttawa, Ontario, the poster-child for busway advocates, has changed directions and approved an approximately five mile light rail pilot project. It will operate on existing Canadian Pacific R.R. freight tracks between Greenboro and Bayview, near downtown Ottawa. The two year pilot project is expected to cost $16 million. The line will use diesel self-propelled rail cars and link the Labreton Flats area near central Ottawa with Carleton University and nearby office parks. It will connect with the existing busway system. This is the city whose busway network Charlotte hopes to closely follow as a model for our four planned busway corridors. While Ottawa turns to light rail, Charlotte clings to Ottawa’s old busway technology. Houston, Texas, another busway city, has approved a light rail project between downtown and the Astrodome. Many observers have said rail in Houston would be impossible due to its decentralization and resulting tangled web of expressways. The Charlotte Transit System ( CTS ) is getting a new name to better portray the regional emphasis on transit. The system will become the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS). The name and logo will start showing up on the system's transit buses, and other related services in coming months. Any future light rail and/or commuter/regional rail vehicles would also carry the name and logo. Corridor meetings for the North, University, Airport, and Independence transit corridors are expected to begin in the Summer. Since the proposed projects and hearings must be placed on the federal register the meetings probably won't begin before mid to late June. A Major Investment Study (MIS) will be conducted for each corridor tying transit and
land use components together. The MIS is mandatory to qualify for federal funds from the
Federal Transit Administration to pay for a portion of the projects. Rail and bus modes
will be considered for all corridors in the The Metropolitan Transit Commission ( MTC ) hopes to receive approval to proceed to the Preliminary Engineering Phase for the South Corridor Transitway later this year. Light Rail was approved by the MTC and Metropolitan Planning Organization ( MPO ) in February and March as the locally preferred transit mode for the Charlotte-Pineville corridor. " |
