NEW ORLEANS | Project/Development Thread

[IceCream]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Also, we should get some nice shelters. These are at no cost, paid for by advertising revenue. However, NORTA works with a really bush-league company out in Metairie instead of the bigger companies like JC Decaux or Cemusa, which deliver beautiful, customized designs at no added cost. The local operation gives us pretty ugly shelters out of a catalog.

Wasn't there some sort of project to replace the canal st shelters at some point?

I don't go up and down canal very often (i mostly cross it)...

[tennis1400]

Well I do know that some of the bus shelters have been replaced downtown. I also know there is some sort of Streetcar/Bus transfer station planned on Canal Street right past City Park Avenue right in front of the Bulldog etc.

Also, there are now machines and some pile driving has been done on the future Mannings site.

[camkazaam]

I've been thinking a lot about high speed rail, especially since the president focused on them in the state of the union. My uncle splits his time between New Orleans and Germany. He says he can take a bullet train to Paris in 3 hours, Frankfurt in 2, Berlin in 5, Amsterdam in 5. These are great distances. The equivalent would be NOLA to Atlanta, Houston, and Nashville in about 2-4 hours.

New Orleans stands to gain a lot from high-speed rail, if it really happens. Most of the city's visitors come from nearby states. If people could hop on a train and get to New Orleans in a few hours, we might have significantly more visitors from Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Just think about it. Wouldn't you be more likely to visit, say, Nashville, if you could take a 3 hour train ride, instead of a 7 hour drive? And if it was competitively priced? (unlike AmTrak). This could be a huge thing for the city, and it couldn't happen at a better time, with all the development happening near the Union Passenger Terminal. Mayor Landrieu should also really press the gas on getting some rail service running to Baton Rouge, and hell, why not try to connect our city to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mobile, and Pensacola through some real rail?

What do you think? Is high speed rail really going to happen here? Or are we too "smart" to follow the Europeans?

[annie himself]

I don't see it happening soon. Just plain too expensive and the federal gov't would probably want to focus on the more popular megaregions like Boston-D.C. and South Florida.

[FrenchTwins]

Originally Posted by camkazaam

I've been thinking a lot about high speed rail, especially since the president focused on them in the state of the union. My uncle splits his time between New Orleans and Germany. He says he can take a bullet train to Paris in 3 hours, Frankfurt in 2, Berlin in 5, Amsterdam in 5. These are great distances. The equivalent would be NOLA to Atlanta, Houston, and Nashville in about 2-4 hours.

New Orleans stands to gain a lot from high-speed rail, if it really happens. Most of the city's visitors come from nearby states. If people could hop on a train and get to New Orleans in a few hours, we might have significantly more visitors from Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Just think about it. Wouldn't you be more likely to visit, say, Nashville, if you could take a 3 hour train ride, instead of a 7 hour drive? And if it was competitively priced? (unlike AmTrak). This could be a huge thing for the city, and it couldn't happen at a better time, with all the development happening near the Union Passenger Terminal. Mayor Landrieu should also really press the gas on getting some rail service running to Baton Rouge, and hell, why not try to connect our city to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mobile, and Pensacola through some real rail?

What do you think? Is high speed rail really going to happen here? Or are we too "smart" to follow the Europeans?

Without getting too overtly political on this forum, I am not convinced that there is an economically feasible way to do high speed rail in the spread out South or many other areas of the country besides the North East. Maybe if oil prices climbed a lot higher it might seem more reasonable. The reason why it is viable in places like China and Japan is because the cities being connected in those countries are all +5 million minimum.

I lived in europe for five months and travelled a bit while I was there. All my travels were by plane because the rail service was higher priced. And that's with the European tendency toward public transit instead of individual driving and heavy government help (much like Amtrak which, from what I've heard, runs in the red quite a lot).

Maybe its my bias (aerospace engineer) but I think air travel is about to see a major efficiency improvement in the next 10-20 years with the FAA overhauling flight routes and air traffic control systems from the 60s, newer fleets (787, new 737 & 747), and technology overhauls of existing fleets with higher efficiency engines, etc.

Locally though, I think New Orleans has the infrastructure already set up for a light rail line from the airport the the UPT. I think there could definitely be a large park and ride crowd around the Zephyr Stadium area (parking lots already there) to help make it a money making operation. Thoughts?

[ardecila]

How about we get a regular-speed train to Baton Rouge and Mobile before we start looking for high-speed trains to Atlanta... it's vastly less expensive.

Nobody flies from NO to BR, so a rail option would only be competing with driving. LSU fans would make the line work - imagine seeing a game and drinking as much as you feel like without worrying about the drive home. There'd be a station at the UPT, a station at the airport, in Laplace, Gonzales, LSU's campus, and downtown BR.

[annie himself]

Originally Posted by ardecila

How about we get a regular-speed train to Baton Rouge and Mobile before we start looking for high-speed trains to Atlanta... it's vastly less expensive.

Nobody flies from NO to BR, so a rail option would only be competing with driving. LSU fans would make the line work - imagine seeing a game and drinking as much as you feel like without worrying about the drive home. There'd be a station at the UPT, a station at the airport, in Laplace, Gonzales, LSU's campus, and downtown BR.

Exactly what I'm thinking. With stops in Biloxi and Mobile. The rail would also have to connect to BTR Metro airport in the northern part of the parish off 110. I'm sure Hornets and Saints attendance would increase if the rail was reasonably priced to curb driving. Why not continue to Lafayette for UL games and the many festivals and concerts that go on there..

[IceCream]

Originally Posted by ardecila

- imagine seeing a game and drinking as much as you feel like without worrying about the drive home.

I like the way you think...

I assume Manning's is going on the site left vacant by Harrah's old administrative offices that collapsed one night?

[urbanwatcher]

A rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans would be really great for the region as a whole.I know a number of people who were going to LSU but stopped because the drive was a little bit too much.It should be interlocking, connecting the northshore to the south and then parts west.This would help ease a lot of peoples commute and promote a decline in the idea of suburbs vs city.I think the money would have to be federal but getting Jindal to ok it is such a nightmare because of his views on limited government???
On another note i have been reading that the new Biodistrict is very large and plans for expansion as phases are complete.Do you think this is a reality?Also there is discussion for reusing charity in this expansion.I would prefer it to become the next city hall but getting it back in use in any form is fine by me.

[tennis1400]

Originally Posted by IceCream

I like the way you think...

I assume Manning's is going on the site left vacant by Harrah's old administrative offices that collapsed one night?

Yes its where they have been setting up make shift stages the past few years. SO nice to see another surface parking lot bite the dust.

On another note, I dont think we have to worry about competing with Dallas for future Superbowls. Its turning into a disaster over there...

[annie himself]

Originally Posted by tennis1400

On another note, I dont think we have to worry about competing with Dallas for future Superbowls. Its turning into a disaster over there...

Whats going on in Dallas? I think we have the best stadium for Superbowl games.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by annie himself

Exactly what I'm thinking. With stops in Biloxi and Mobile. The rail would also have to connect to BTR Metro airport in the northern part of the parish off 110. I'm sure Hornets and Saints attendance would increase if the rail was reasonably priced to curb driving. Why not continue to Lafayette for UL games and the many festivals and concerts that go on there..

There's already a train going to Lafayette from New Orleans (via Morgan City/New Iberia), and there's no rail line between Baton Rouge and Lafayette across the Atchafalaya. There used to be, but it got torn up when they built I-10 (colossally stupid move).

And on the airport: does anybody actually use Baton Rouge airport? I thought it was really meant for people flying in to do official business with the state. Everybody else just drives to the New Orleans airport. Even if people do use the Baton Rouge airport, it's probably just local people who would much rather drive than take an infrequent Amtrak train. The New Orleans airport is a better choice for a station because people from BR do actually come to that airport frequently, facing a long drive.


A New Orleans-Baton Rouge train would be great at four daily round trips (2 or 3 on weekends). Amtrak's Hiawatha from Chicago to Milwaukee is a similar distance, and it costs $4 million to operate it for one year. That's not a huge amount for a state with a $650million yearly transportation budget. It's not even 1%. And the Louisiana rail line would probably run fewer trains than the Hiawatha, so it would be even less than $4m.

[dgpatel]

I was hoping for a joint NO-BTR airport somewhere in the middle. How about the site of LA Regional Airport? Its pretty much not going to happen, atleast anytime soon, with the amounts of money being poured into LANOIA.

[annie himself]

Originally Posted by ardecila

There's already a train going to Lafayette from New Orleans (via Morgan City/New Iberia), and there's no rail line between Baton Rouge and Lafayette across the Atchafalaya. There used to be, but it got torn up when they built I-10 (colossally stupid move).

And on the airport: does anybody actually use Baton Rouge airport? I thought it was really meant for people flying in to do official business with the state. Everybody else just drives to the New Orleans airport. Even if people do use the Baton Rouge airport, it's probably just local people who would much rather drive than take an infrequent Amtrak train. The New Orleans airport is a better choice for a station because people from BR do actually come to that airport frequently, facing a long drive.

A New Orleans-Baton Rouge train would be great at four daily round trips (2 or 3 on weekends). Amtrak's Hiawatha from Chicago to Milwaukee is a similar distance, and it costs $4 million to operate it for one year. That's not a huge amount for a state with a $650million yearly transportation budget. It's not even 1%.

That rail across the basin is mostly still there. And a rail going to Lafayette through BR would be alot better. Honestly, not many people use BTR metro but when people fly in to come to BR, they use our airport versus NO. I've flown out of NO numerous times while living in BR because its international.

Originally Posted by dgpatel

I was hoping for a joint NO-BTR airport somewhere in the middle. How about the site of LA Regional Airport? Its pretty much not going to happen, atleast anytime soon, with the amounts of money being poured into LANOIA.

I believe a regional airport was to be built in St. James parish in Donaldsonville. I don't see the need for one there since it would be even further from NO and going to Orleans parish from Kenner isn't as easy as it could be. It would serve BR better being a newer, bigger airport to use and being only 35-40 minutes out of downtown BR. Now if NO-BR would marketed as a single area and soon a single metro, then I could see the regional airport more feasible.

[camkazaam]

Originally Posted by annie himself

Now if NO-BR would marketed as a single area and soon a single metro, then I could see the regional airport more feasible.

The idea of New Orleans and Baton Rouge being considered a single mega-metropolis is a bit exciting, since it would get the metro population up to 2 million. But its very sad to think about all the cookie cutter suburbs that would be built between the two cities! (Even more of them than are already there.)

Back to trains. I'm happy to see so much support for local rail lines between NOLA, BR and even other surrounding cities. Any chance this will really happen during Mayor Landrieu's first term? How about some leadership from local leaders in BR? Do they have a mayor anybody has ever heard of?

As far as high speed rail, I found this time-lapse map from the US High Speed Rail Association, showing a projected expansion.

http://www.ushsr.com/hsrnetwork.html

I continue to say that this would be good for our society, economy, and environment, and therefore justify the huge expense. In addition to stimulating the economies of destination cities (ahem .. New Orleans!), we'd be better plugged in with other big cities, at the same time cutting back on pollution and fuel usage.

[annie himself]

Originally Posted by camkazaam

The idea of New Orleans and Baton Rouge being considered a single mega-metropolis is a bit exciting, since it would get the metro population up to 2 million. But its very sad to think about all the cookie cutter suburbs that would be built between the two cities! (Even more of them than are already there.)

Back to trains. I'm glad to see so much support for super local rail lines between NOLA, BR and even other surrounding cities. Any chance this will really happen? In our lifetimes?

As far as high speed rail, I found this time-lapse map from the US High Speed Rail Association, showing a projected expansion.

http://www.ushsr.com/hsrnetwork.html

I continue to say that this would be good for our society, economy, and environment, justifying the huge expense. In addition to stimulating the economies of destination cities (ahem, New Orleans), we'd be better plugged in with other big cities, at the same time cutting back on pollution and fuel usage.

The population would reach 2.5 mil soon. Programs built to urbanize cities like Gonzales and Hammond and focus on a small core to help curve the suburbs. Hammond even has a university. While both cities are already suburban we can start to curb that effect and work on the cores of these places.
Yes, we will be connected via rail lines in our lifetime. I don't know anymore than anyone here but I feel like the rail would make generous revenue and be used to its advantage. This would great for our region soon reaching out to Mobile and hopefully the Florida panhandle.

Although there is one downside to a NO-BR metro, BR would have to live in NO's huge shadow much like DFW works, unless BR see's serious growth and surpasses 1.2 mil in the next 5-8 years.

[DillardAlum]

Originally Posted by camkazaam

Back to trains. I'm happy to see so much support for local rail lines between NOLA, BR and even other surrounding cities. Any chance this will really happen during Mayor Landrieu's first term? How about some leadership from local leaders in BR? Do they have a mayor anybody has ever heard of?

Yes, a NO-BR rail has support from BR mayor Kip Holden, also. Matter of fact, last May, Mayor Landrieu and Mayor Holden signed a letter of agreement and held a joint press conference outlining mutual support of for rail and other potential joint venture. http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/94895609.html

Also, according to a recent study of popular opinion regarding a NO-BR rail, it seems that it is favored by many citizens in both metros and the communities in between. "Poll: the Baton Rouge/New Orleans region wants rail" http://cpex.org/news/poll-the-baton-...n-wants-rail-2

[camkazaam]

Thanks, DillardAlum!

[Blitzen]

Originally Posted by annie himself

Now if NO-BR would marketed as a single area and soon a single metro, then I could see the regional airport more feasible.

While I have no doubt someone may try to market NO-BR as a single metro region in the future, I think it's a bad idea. The reality is that the two cities just aren't that close to one another, and New Orleans is great enough on its own - having BR for publicity reasons won't help it in any way. I hope an airport in the center of the two cities never gets built, as it would be too far away from either city to be convenient. The right thing to do is to build a new international airport either in:

-New Orleans East, in the leveed off land around 6-flags, or

-At the current Naval Air Base on the westbank, which has a larger footprint than MSY with plenty of empty land around it to expand, and it is just as close to downtown NOLA.

Remember before Katrina there was talk of closing down this base, but then Gov. Blanco begged Congress not to, and it was left open? I think that was a huge mistake, as that could have been New Orleans' new airport. The runways and infrastructure are already there.

[annie himself]

Originally Posted by Blitzen

While I have no doubt someone may try to market NO-BR as a single metro region in the future, I think it's a bad idea. The reality is that the two cities just aren't that close to one another, and New Orleans is great enough on its own - having BR for publicity reasons won't help it in any way. I hope an airport in the center of the two cities never gets built, as it would be too far away from either city to be convenient. The right thing to do is to build a new international airport either in:

-New Orleans East, in the leveed off land around 6-flags, or

-At the current Naval Air Base on the westbank, which has a larger footprint than MSY with plenty of empty land around it to expand, and it is just as close to downtown NOLA.

Remember before Katrina there was talk of closing down this base, but then Gov. Blanco begged Congress not to, and it was left open? I think that was a huge mistake, as that could have been New Orleans' new airport. The runways and infrastructure are already there.

That's my gripe but its just a little further than Ft. Worth is from Dallas. While NO is fine on it's own I'm sure it will help BR grow but it would have to live in NO's shadow. I think before NO gets its own new airport, we would see a regional one in St. James parish connected by rail to both cities. That seems like it would have more support versus NO getting a new facility and the necessity of BR having to expand its small airport and possibly getting a new one while the city expands.