An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Lite Rail
Mr Ol Broad and I took a DART ride to downtown Dallas today. Big whoop! But a necessary trip to pick up some papers. Honestly, with a city the size of Dallas, I’m surprised they didn’t put those trains in a LONG time ago. You don’t want to drive downtown….trust me! While on the ride, I got to thinking. Yes, I know, it’s quite dangerous.
Milwaukee has a battle going on for and against lite rail. I was always amused when listening to the ‘drive times’ on Milwaukee radio. Believe me, a 20 minute drive time is NOT a major issue. An hour and a half, on the other hand, IS.
Milwaukee is in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has severe winters. Are the proposed rail routes going to have heated shelters? If not, it’s a major waste of money. If so, will they also have heated rails? I mean seriously, you get ice and snow on those rails, you’re going to have a major mess. Not to mention mega snow drifts. Will the trains only run June through August? No? Again, what’s the point? What an extreme waste of money! If, on the other hand, they’ll built a subway system, it might be worth looking at for that type of climate.
It was downright chilly standing out there on the platform. I can’t imagine doing that in Milwaukee!
Oh, and while we’re on the subject, do NOT get trapped in the closing doors! sigh…. It’s a tad painful.  
A subway system may be more ideal. But if the geology is like Chicago’s it may be tough.
Chicago has the EL, I assume it has good heating.
Light rail has proven very popular in Salt Lake City, Dallas, Minneapolis, and several other places. In Charlotte recently the voters voted to keep the transit tax and in Utah in 2006 they voted to support funding for it.
Salt Lake City’s case is incredible.
Hank, does it not occur to you to put all your comments into one package?
I’m thinking you didn’t actually bother to READ what I said.
In Las vegas, we have the monorail between several Strip hotels. It is privately funded andit will go bankrupt in a few years. So, unless you want to fund the lite rail with massive tax subsidies, thenit is not a good idea.
The Dart System is great, especially when there is a Hockey, or Basketball game down
at the American Airlines Center (AAC) With the traffic and parking nightmare it can create.. $3 is well worth it to let someone else do the driving!
Dan, the monorail in Vegas really isn’t all that convenient. If it went straight down the strip, instead of ending up a half mile from the casinos at the end, y’all might have more people using it. We saw it by accident, and thought we’d give it a shot. We used it once!
Yep, the Mr said “Why don’t you just drive?” Pfft! Yeah…right! After going down there, he saw why. LOL
Okay in the future I will try to put it all in one package. Sorry for the inconvenience.