Comments on: The Sprawl Gameplan: You Idle West, I’ll Ride the Rails East

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:58:00 +0000

About photographing Lowe’s:
It’s urbanists like you an me that photograph places like Lowe’s to bring sobering reminders of how ugly suburban sprawl is.
I took photographs of a major suburban commercial corridor to make a study of how to turn it into a walkable, public transit-oriented, urban district. I’m still coming around to create computer renderings.

By: Ryan Sharp

Ryan Sharp — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:22:00 +0000

Very good analysis, catowner.

We’re not saying that streetcars should comprise the majority of Miami’s rail transit, not at all. Streetcars fill an important niche within a multimodal transit system that most definitely includes light rail, heavy rail, and even buses.

We’re avid supporters of BayLink, but streetcars should also play a valuable role within the future of Miami’s transit.

By: serial catowner

serial catowner — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:20:00 +0000

Nobody is arguing- and transit advocates least of all- that streetcars are a total solution in transit.

The fact is, when you had streetcars in Miami before, they worked pretty well. They improved mobility (and urban hygiene by removing horses), paved a lot of streets (under the terms of their franchises) and helped the town (that's what it was in those days) prosper. The streetcars did not fail, they were superseded by cars and buses, which worked better under the conditions of that time- a time which is past.

As for spending $200 million, read Seattle's Monorail sob story and weep. Then build a streetcar system, not as a mass transit system, but as a transit system.

To get a little deeper into how streetcars and light rail can function as rapid transit or mass transit, check out how SF uses the Muni system as light rail, streetcar, and subway. It's a subway on Market, the fastest way to travel 3-5 miles as light rail, and a streetcar system the further out you go.

Considering that changing conditions left the streetcars in the dustbin, it should come as no surprise that changing conditions could bring them back.

By: Verticus S. Erectus

Verticus S. Erectus — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:49:00 +0000

I have no problem with mass transit– the more, the merrier. I have problems with streetcars. If they are part of the grid, they are part of the problem. To solve the problems of traffic in our cities, the system that works best is one that is either above the grid or below it. Subways won’t work here because of our high water table. Monorails would and should be considered a viable alternative to just about everything. Spending $200 million on a streetcar system for Miami lacks vision. We had them once– before you and even I were born– but they didn’t work then and won’t work now. I’d rather see the $200 million diverted to building a BayLink monorail between Miami and Miami Beach. BayLink right now is built around streetcars sharing limited lanes of traffic on narrow streets and in our humble opinion just won’t work. Hopefully someone with real vision will be graduating from that noteworthy UF program who will see the light– as we see it.

By: JM Palacios

JM Palacios — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:34:00 +0000

UF is teaching some good sound transportation engineering. It’s not for nothing that we have ranked in the top ten civil engineering programs nationwide. Ironically, though, their research focus is primarily on highway engineering and less on mass transit. So they’re not putting streetcar ideas into our heads, just giving us the right principles. From there a good engineer can see that highways alone are not sufficient to solve our congestion problems. “Streetcars” (Light Rail), heavy rail (subway or elevated), and automated people movers are all good transportation alternatives that take cars off the road. Feel free to voice any reason why you think streetcars or mass transit systems are not viable and we will address it.

By: Verticus S. Erectus

Verticus S. Erectus — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:51:00 +0000

Thanks for the plug. It’s so disappointing to see the dearth in leadership here. Why not graduate, return to your hometown and run for office. I’d vote for you– once you give up your cockamamied idea about the viability of streetcars. What the heck is UF teaching you up there?

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:59:00 +0000

I was just reading through the 137th avenue plans the other day and was laughing as I remembered the Kendall Link meetings where people envisioned tree lined grassy bussways going down the middle of 137th instead of an “unsightly” metrorail extension down the turnpike. Now the county is actually considering putting in overpasses (as you mentioned in the post) over several of the more major intersections to handle the traffic load before the busway option was even suggested.

Instead of turning our streets into highways and superhighways, we should be developing our neglected downtown areas and push to improve what we already have. I just have a sneeking idea that there is some form of kickback going on behind closed doors.