[PRCo] Re: for those playing at home

[John Swindler]

Agree, Bob.  Politics and lack of vision.  
 
The feds like to spread their funding around, and it seems like the spigot gets turned on every 12-15 years for a regions major transit project.  This is it for Pittsburgh for probably two decades - or for several of us, the rest of our life.  A one-mile tunnel to a couple stadiums and a casino.  Or maybe to a casino, and the stadiums are thrown in to sell it to the public.
 
The feds have also recently 'turned on the spigot' for light rail projects in Phoenix (just opened to larger then expected crowds), Norfolk, Denver-West line, Salt Lake City-Jorden line, Houston, LA-Santa Monica via air line (only half way) and Dallas.  Without looking up the numbers, I can pretty much guarentee that all these light rail projects will cost only 10-15% per mile when compared to the per mile cost of the north shore connector.  
 
Cheers
John
> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:38:01 -0500> From: bob.dietrich1 at verizon.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: for those playing at home> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > 1) wrong part of the north side> Doesn't the PRR right-of-way go down near the stadiums? Guaranteed> there is space on that ROW.> 2) connects from Steel Plaza and bypasses most of downtown.> Are they going to run all cars through the new tunnel? if so then> this statement makes sense. If not then I would think the bridge would> reduce congestion.> > But let's get to the real reason - politics. How much ice-tea money would> they have been able to get going over the bridge as opposed to digging the> worlds bestest tunnel???> > -----Original Message-----> From: Derrick J Brashear> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:26 PM> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> Subject: [PRCo] Re: for those playing at home> > On Thu, 22 Jan 2009, John Swindler wrote:> > >> > I still haven't heard a good reason why the Ft. Wayne bridge wasn't > > used. Was there a clearance problem? Perceived problems negotiating > > with Norfolk Southern??> > As far as I know the reasons were> 1) wrong part of the north side> 2) connects from Steel Plaza and bypasses most of downtown.> > > There is a northshore connector map on PAT website, and it looks like > > the goal is to take losers to a casino. Course I'd never imply that.> > Also the stadiums, and bring people downtown from stadium parking, but I'm > not saying you're wrong.> > > 
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