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Phoenix / Valley Metro Light Rail Report Card: FDecember 15, 2010, 10:45 am Folks who read this site know I have been critical of Phoenix light rail since well before it was opened.  So often, folks just willfully misinterpret my criticisms.   The actual rail line and its service is pretty nice, and the facilities are quite attractive (lets see what they look like in 10 years though).  If Santa Claus had just delivered the Phoenix light rail system for free to Phoenix, I would be thrilled with it.   But Santa unfortunately was not involved, and instead the rail line was...

NORFOLK Months before signing legal documents assuring federal officials they could build light rail for $232 million, Hampton Roads Transit leaders knew it would actually cost tens of millions of dollars more, a new state investigation reveals. In fact, HRT senior officials maintained a separate, internal accounting of light rail costs that was intentionally kept “secret” from government entities footing the bills, documents show.

Incoming governors of Wisconsin and Ohio, Scott Walker and John Kasich, have announced that they’ll be rejecting federal funds for new rail projects in their states. The federal government could leave that money unspent; saving the taxpayers untold millions, but this administration doesn’t believe in fiscal responsibility. So they went looking around for someone willing to take the money, and Governor Pat Quinn stuck Illinois’ hand out as far as it could reach, happy to accept such a generous gift this Christmas season on behalf of his panhandling state. But why did Wisconsin and Ohio turn it down? Surely they...

A few days before this month's election, the federal government announced that California would receive an additional $715 million for its high-speed rail project, contingent on the money being spent quickly on a segment in the San Joaquin Valley. Why? You'd have to be terminally naive not to believe that the splashy announcement, made personally by an Obama administration official in Fresno, was to help an embattled local congressman, Democrat Jim Costa, stave off a very stiff Republican challenge. Costa, a longtime bullet train advocate, did, in fact, eke out a narrow re-election win. And last week, the California High-Speed...

Gov.-elect Scott Walker, hoarse from his election night celebration, was optimistic on Wednesday that Wisconsin’s high-speed rail project could be stopped and that highway construction projects will move forward under his administration. Just days before the election, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal committing the state to spending all $810 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for the state to use on the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line. While at first blush it would seem the signed commitments would end the discussion, Walker said that may not be the case. “I believe there are a couple of legal options...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - In his first news conference as governor elect, John Kasich de-railed plans for high speed trains connecting Dayton to the rest of the state. In a press conference with reporters from around the state, Kasich outlined his priorities for taking Ohio into the future. "My message today is to get jobs going in this state," said Kasich. Political analysts said the economy is what helped Kasich win the election, now he wants the economy to win for Ohio. "We have to become competitive. We've got to show the people of this state that we can manage...

Youtube link.

VIDEO - Detroit's current "light rail" system has been called a “Horizontal Elevator to Nowhere” and the “least cost-effective transit project in the last 20 years.” So what's the response to this epic disaster of central planning from the political class? To build more, of course.

Imagine that you own a service station that supplies fuel to the surrounding community, and you specialize in automotive repair. You're proud that your reputation for service attracts vintage Corvette owners. You worked hard all of your life, and your shop is your equity for retirement. Your business is entirely dependent on customers who enter via a left turn from Boone Avenue, a low traffic street, because drivers cannot get direct access to you from Highway 55, just south of your business. One fateful day, a traffic engineer decides that the street serving as access to your station is to...

An investigation has been launched into the behavior of a member of the city council in Vancouver City, Wash., after she lost her cool at a meeting when people wanted to argue over a light rail plan, ordered one member of the public out of the room, ordered the council chairman to "gavel down" a constituent, and ordered a colleague on the council to "Shut up!" The situation developed as members of the public were in attendance to express concerns about a light rail program. Harris told one speaker not to address individual members of the committee, and when he...

TAMPA - More than a decade ago, Phoenix baseball officials showcased a video of their state of the art ballpark during a lavish Tampa Bay reception, overwhelming the home team's introduction of Tropicana Field. Local business and civic leaders that night yearned for a comparable facility, even before the Rays' first season had begun. Once again local officials are casting an envious eye toward Phoenix. This time they are studying a 20-mile light rail system that could serve as a model for a proposed system in Tampa. This week, a Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce contingent will visit Phoenix to...

VIRGINIA BEACH Two former Hampton Roads Transit employees were indicted by a special grand jury Thursday, charged with embezzlement, money laundering and state income tax evasion in connection with money missing from bus fare boxes. Karen Yvonne Watkins, 23, of Portsmouth and Latasha Kiana Boyd, 22, of Virginia Beach have agreed to turn themselves over to police next week, said Macie Pridgen, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney's office. Pridgen said the charges stem from funds that were discovered missing between January and October 2009. The investigation is ongoing and more indictments are possible, Pridgen said. Last year, HRT...

The feds, since 1991, have had a plan of creating high speed rail corridors throughout the nation including one between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and since Obama took office $8 billion has been shoved into this opium-pipe dream with billions more expected although that hope may change come November. Texas and the Sourth outside Florida haven't gotten much of this loot for some strange reason albeit Pennsylvania's not much ahead nabbing a paltry $25.6 million for the Keystone Corridor project. Grand schemes like this would be great if resources were infinite and the simple building of it was the hardest and...

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s traffic congestion could double in the next couple of decades, with Charlotte drivers facing the same types of delays Chicago drivers face now. That was the conclusion of a 2007 John Locke Foundation report. It recommended $12 billion of spending to clear North Carolina’s congested urban roads and prepare for future traffic growth. Many traffic problems outlined three years ago continue to cause concerns today. Randal O’Toole, senior fellow with the Cato Institute, recently tackled the issue from a national perspective in the book Gridlock: Why We’re Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It....

Americans are now getting our of their cars and taking to light rail services in growing numbers. When Judy Garland sang: “Ring, ring, ring, went the trolley / Ding, ding, ding, went the bell” in the Trolley Song in 1944’s movie Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), she was celebrating the trolley car, the all-American streetcar that summed up down town US cities from the 1900s to the 1940s. No city worth its name would have failed to build a streetcar system as a form of civic pride.In the 1940s, a mix of vested interest and the growing levels of...

That puts Alstom nearer to possible subsystem workHornell, N.Y. — The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is closer to the purchase of new railcars, which means Alstom may soon know the fate of their bid for subsystem work on the project. Metro’s Board of Directors approved a contract on May 27 for the manufacture of 428 new generation Metrorail cars, known as the Series 7000 cars, at a cost of $886 million. The cars will address Metro’s number one safety priority: to replace its oldest rail cars, the 1000 Series. Of the 428 cars, 128 of the cars will...

A $293 million investment announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood means that residents in dozens of communities nationwide will soon enjoy major transit improvements, including new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities. The nearly $300 million investment is part of the Obama Administration's livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities. It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program. "This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation's communities will create jobs, boost economic...

Engineers’ assessment is that traffic will require more capacity by 2030PORTLAND — An eight-lane bridge across the Columbia River would be too small to accommodate future traffic demand unless there is a major increase in the number of drivers deciding to take the bus or avoiding rush hour altogether, according to an engineering firm hired by the city of Portland to consider a smaller Interstate 5 bridge. Concerned about the mammoth size of the 10-lane Columbia River Crossing currently being proposed, the city wanted to look at a slimmer version. The engineering firm delivered its assessment Friday during a meeting...

Calling into The Sue Jeffers Show on KTLK-FM in Minneapolis on Saturday, state senate candidate Norann Dillon shared an astute analogy for the hidden cost of state's accepting federal money. The topic at hand was Minnesota's expanding light rail system, the construction of which is highly subsidized by federal grants. Acknowledging the tendency of state legislators to regard available federal dollars as "free money," Dillon compared a more common transaction. It's the reason my kids are always so impressed when they see the new mobile phones come out and they say, "Oh look! They're free!" Well, there's a reason why....

One of Houston Mayor Annise Parker's most visible goals since taking office in January has been to shake up the agency that oversees buses, rail and other forms of transit in and around the city. Parker's criticisms of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (known as Metro to those who speak Houston) have been music to the ears of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is trying to hold off a November challenge from Parker's predecessor, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White. Through press statements and Web videos and under the predictable mantra of "Metrogate," Perry's team has packaged Parker's criticisms with a series...