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Review of light rail in other cities

July 9, 2008 |

KC Light Rail recently posted a seven-part series reviewing the status of light rail and transit in other cities around the United States. They provide great background information and provide a lot of context for Kansas City as we consider plans for our own system.


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Joe Medley on July 10, 2008 9:38 am

    Currently, KC has less density than a lot of other cities with transit. Please keep a few things in mind when reviewing this information. Because of KC’s 316 square miles of space, we have large open stretches that skew our density results. It’s density along the route that matters.

    Also, construction of transportation always alters development patterns. This was true of both the parks and boulevards system in the 1890s and the highway system in the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, those systems altered development to their own benefit. Light rail will concentrate development in a way that will benefit light rail and make it more profitable.

  2. Tim on July 13, 2008 11:12 am

    What Joe says is true. Business thrives where there is more traffic, period. Mass transit = traffic = business = revenue.

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