Quote:
Originally Posted by siriusdog
Coming back to the discussion in earlier posts on light rail. I was recently reading this article https://worksinprogress.co/issue/why-japan-has-such-good-railways/
about the Japanese rail system and really liked the idea of rail companies owning the development around their stations. Is this feasible under US/Texas law?
If so, the best way to improve the project would be to use some of the funds to buy up the land around the stations and the city would have the power to upzone and remove any parking requirements. The profits would then be reinvested in maintaining service and expanding the network? What are your thoughts on that?
Additionally, I don't understand why the Project Connect light rail and the Metro rail programs are separate entities with different leaderships (is it because Leander is in the Cap Metro service area?). There is a lot of value in building upon the existing red line (and hopefully green line). If the the entity can buy the land around the track for development and use the proceeds to build the rail/station, there is alot of land around the red and green line stations that could be developed at much higher density (Hello Hancock station?) to bankroll a station at that location and double track the remainder of the lines.
Just some thoughts on improving the connectivity around the city. There is not much improvement I can think of for the proposed route. My only request would be to reduce the travel time between the stations. In an ideal world, I would like to travel between Yellow Jacket and Republic Square in less than 20 min (i read the latest estimate puts it at 35 min). Is this possible? |
Unfortunately there is only a single interchange between project connect and the red line and it is downtown. It was a big miss stopping the light rail short of Crestview Station IMO.
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