Southwest Light Rail Extension Case Study

The town of Halton Hill’s population includes the areas of Georgetown and Acton and other communities such as Erin, Oakville, Burlington and Milton regions. This is what is considered to be my community because these are the many places that I am visiting most often and they are always referred to together as “Halton Hills Region” (p.5, 2011). With the substantial increase in population in the Halton Hills region, more specifically Georgetown, there should be a strong demand for a public transit system to counteract all of the environmental disturbances that are being caused due to this increase. One of the things that is happening is that there are so many trees they are cutting down in order to expand and grow the population with houses being built. Statistics are showing that the population of Halton Hill’s region will expand by 54% over the next 20 years (p.5, 2011). By the year 2031, employment rates will increase by 75%, leaving Halton with 42,100 jobs being offered (p.5, 2011). With this rapid influx of citizens, this will only increase the demands of travel to get to these work places as well as other destinations (p.5, 2011). Over the past couple of year’s the traffic congestion on the major roads in Halton Hills such as Trafalgar Road and Regional Road 25 with individuals trying to get to and from work. There used to be very little traffic in these areas, however since Halton Hill’s has continued to expand, the utilization of automobiles has significantly increased due to the fact there is no public transit system. The Transportation Demand Management in Halton Hill’s is noticing the increase in automobiles stating that there needs to be a major shift in more efficient ways of transportation, yet there still has been nothing improvised (p.7, 2011). The Transportation Demand

Trains are everywhere in our society, we have jokes, toys, movies, and children’s television shows, but did you know rail transport started in 6th century Greece? The city of San Antonio, Texas is a fast-growing metropolitan city that has a very tremendous amount of people. It has been estimated that the city will grow by another million people in the next ten to twenty years. San Antonio’s traffic is becoming a huge issue and is quickly approaching to be one of the most congested areas in the states. The public transport in San Antonio consists of a very complex bus system, taxicabs, Trolley’s downtown, and the growing market of ridesharing drivers. San Antonio has had many talks and negotiations throughout the last two decades on getting a Light Rail system constructed to help with public transportation. This proposal is for specific businesses, the city of San Antonio and Bexar County to come to a funding agreement.

nMotion is a controversial plan to invest more than $6B over the next 25 years in the public transportation infrastructure. The plan includes steps to simplify the system, develop BRT lines, build rail lines, and regionalize service to enhance efficiency. Many region leaders agree that the community must move in this direction, but unfortunately it is controversial due to the fact that public support for such an investment is not strong.

Traffic in downtown Austin, Texas is becoming a sever issue and is continuing to become slower and more congested every day. Austin ranks 4th on a list of U.S. cities with the least efficient roadways, and with its remarkable growth rate, the issue can only get worse. After reading numerous articles based on opinions and statements from local city planners and engineers, the best way to see an improvement in the traffic issue is to increase the amount of public transportation in the Austin area. The increase of public transportation would provide fast travel time and would help reduce the amount of money, commuters and locals use on gas by a substantial amount per year. Though many may argue the that we have enough public transportation already, reducing the number of personal vehicles on the road would decrease the amount of bumper to bumper traffic experienced on a daily basis, as well as increase the options for those commuting to the city every day. there are many possible solutions, such as widening the highways or even building them underground, these solutions however are not the most economically correct and productive way to relieve traffic downtown.

Many communities a part of metro Atlanta are against the expansion of public transportation since they believe that crime rates increase in their communities. There is also a distorted economic view associated with the main public transportation service. Many natives in Atlanta connect poverty with public transportation, resulting in a higher amount of people choosing to buy and rental vehicles or ride taxis instead of riding Marta. An additional hindrance of the progression of public transportation is gerrymandering, manipulating boundaries in order maintain desired

Proposition 35 simply gives state and local government the flexibility to use private sector engineers and architects to complete long overdue highway, rail transit and other projects sooner, safely, and at $2.5 billion savings to taxpayers. Supporters of Proposition 35 highlight a few important points, including thousands of overdue highway and rail transit projects that must be completed to alleviate traffic and prepare us for the next quake. In order to complete these thousands of projects both Caltrans and private sector engineers and architects are needed to complete those projects. However, Caltrans bureaucrats stand in the way of accomplishing this by severely restricting government's ability to contract with the private sector. Proposition 35 is the answer to these problems. Proposition 35 is

These issues and many others will be fleshed out as part of a $175,000 Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning grant we’ve secured to come up with a comprehensive Rail Corridor Plan. With information presented comprehensively at community meetings, the Council and the public will be able to discuss the possibilities for long-term solutions such as trenching (as in Solana Beach), more under-crossings like the Swami’s pedestrian underpass at Santa Fe Drive, and all other options. Over the past 30 years, the city has seen multiple studies, and those results will be compiled and presented as part of the Rail Corridor

Milwaukee has had a long history dealing with light rail. From the 1890’s when streetcars were the main way of transportations, to the trackless trolleys and highways built in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The city of Milwaukee went through many ways of trying to get people around the city and the county. By looking back, we can tell that a couple of major obstacles prevented Milwaukee from reinstalling light rail in the 1990’s. One of those main obstacles was the opposition from certain leaders in the community and state.

Seattleites would soon find that public opinion was no match for the power of lobbying: “So, an unholy alliance — downtown business groups, large companies like Boeing (whose interest in Seattle transportation begins and ends with getting commuters through it quickly), the antediluvian WSDOT, craven Seattle City Council members, craven state legislators like Ed Murray (who sponsored the tunnel bill and is now mayor), and head cheerleader Gregoire — bullied the tunnel back onto the agenda, and Seattle voters, sick to f’ing death of arguing about it, finally voted in 2011 to allow it to go forward” (Roberts 1). It had been somewhat of a political miracle that it had ever passed in the first place. The so-called “Seattle process,” in which

The movement of people is a crucial aspect to consider in contemporary development, not only around the world, but within a single municipality. According to “Code Red”, an extensively researched article published in The Hamilton Spectator in 2010, the most underdeveloped area of Hamilton exists in its downtown district. The proposed Light Rail Transit system is a public transit project that could revolutionize the downtown core of Hamilton, Ontario and improve the city’s rate of urban development. This report will discuss and justify a proposal for a North-South route, including three stations/stops, and rejected routes and stations.

Phoenix is large city in the United States and it is also the biggest city in Arizona. There are lots of who people live, work and study here. Therefore, there are always traffic jams in the rush hours which are morning and afternoon. If the government could improve the public transportation, for example, by adding more buses, there would be fewer people driving cars. According to Tribune (2009) Arizona lobbyists criticize claims that spending more money to improve public transportation is important, not only for creating more jobs, but also for help for reduce traffic, air pollution, and our dependence on oil. This shows that the public transportation here should be improved. Improving public transportation will also be beneficial for citizens in Arizona. It is because there will be fewer traffic jams then people will be taking buses instead of

Our transportation system, quite arguably, may embody our most vital system, as Infrastructure and Democracy clarifies, “access is the hallmark of a great infrastructure” (Jones, Reinecke). By great contrast, our roads remain a current issue. 42 percent of America’s urban highways remain congested, costing the United States 101 billion dollars in wasted time and fuel each year. Also, the32 percent of roads, in poor or mediocre condition, cost the average traveler $324 per year (American Infrastructure Report Card). Unfortunately, updating the highway systems seems longer than it may seem, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that from proposal to completion most highways will need nine to nineteen years to fix (Leduc, Wilson 129). In addition to the roads, our bridges are failing just as much. One of every nine bridges within the United States is categorized as structurally deficient. The average bridge 42 years old, and in order to eliminate the bridge renovation backlog, our country would need to invest twenty and a half billion dollars until 2028 (American Infrastructure Report Card). However, in 2013, the United States only invested 12.8 billion dollars in bridge reconstruction and repair (American Infrastructure Report Card). Also, our countries transit

The feasibility of a light rail system is possible when looking at the amount of room in the city of Pittsburgh. This light rail system would be able to help transport college students, city workers, and other Pittsburgh citizens. A light rail system would help to thin out the heavy traffic that vastly impacts the environment with car emissions and still leave the city with some room to expand. A light rail system in the city of Pittsburgh could be set up to run on a straight line system that would follow a North to South and an East to West pattern. Quite like the room to build a light rail system, the engineers and construction builders are plentiful in the Pittsburgh region for such a project. So, workers would not be much of a factor for constructing a light rail system.

With the overall objective in mind of providing public transportation to all Americans, we have to understand all of the different modes of transportation that need to be reconstructed and funded properly. America is a geographically diverse nation and all need to be taken into account to meet the growing demand of transportation over these differing regions. First off, we have to address states that must begin to rely on ferry transport across bodies of water. The ferry system needs adequate funding so that commuters can cross bodies of water such as the Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay. Docks, landings, ferry boats, and employees will all need funding to ensure that this happens. Water public transportation is an unutilized territory and in this growing age we hope to help it strive. We plan to rebuild ferry landings

However, the investment in improvement is a huge amount. For example, King County Metro RapidRide C and D and Madison Street Capital Improvements. This project would design and implement transit priority improvements along King County Metro’s RapidRide C and D lines that provide service to Ballard and West Seattle as an early deliverable to provide improved speed and reliability, in advance of light rail starting operations to these areas. The project also includes a contribution to funding for Madison