Agenda - 05-16-1995 - V-B - Laserfiche WebLink

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page 3 More Benefits... - - ►INCREASES CAPACITY Of 10 CONGESTED CORRIDORS In some roadway corridors, planned For some people, transit choices may /MAINTAINS QUALITY highway construction will enable traffic reap substantial savings of both time and OF LIFE to continue to move smoothly. How- money. Consider the case of a house- Many people have chosen to live in the ever,in many areas,after roadways have hold member who commutes from Ra- Triangle region for its quality of life. They been widened to eight or ten lanes, no leigh to Duke. By using the regional have left areas where growth and oppor- further options will exist to accommo- transit service,this person could reduce tunity were more limited because of op- date the growing flood of automobile the family's auto fleet by one car. Using pressive traffic congestion and uncon- traffic. By 2020, even with completion a monthly pass for regional rail, the trolled urban sprawl. For Fortune of all planned highway projects,ata cost family would be able to save $2,952 Magazine's 1993"Best Cities"article,the of more than $3 billion dollars, 29%of annually. researchers found that if the Triangle re- our peak hour travel will be bumper to gion does not improve its land use and bumper and stop and roll. ►BUILDS ON EXISTING transportation decisions,the region"runs Like other transit systems across America, INFRASTRUCTURE the risk of becoming Los Angeles with the regional transit system will provide Using the existing, underutilized rail seasons." By integrating our land use and alternative choices for travelers in con- lines makes good economic sense,es- transportation decisions, TTA's Regional gested corridors. In the proposed plan, pecially when the taxpayers already Transit Plan is a step toward preserving the regional rail system will provide a own seventy-five percent of the North and improving our future quality of life. time-competitive option for commuters Carolina Railroad. Options that re- PROMOTES GLOBAL who choose to leave their cars behind. quire new guideways, such as light In addition, fixed guideway transit pro- rail or HOV/Busway, would cost a COMPETITIVENESS vides the capability to expand capacity least $.5 billion more than the re- Triangle residents often remark about without the kind of disruption apaci y gional rail system. This large cost their travels to Europe or Japan, where without highway construction. As advantage more than justifies using they have found communities in which ated travel demand increases, regional rail's the existing infrastructure as the basis public transportation is an integral part capacity can increase simply by adding for the system. of the transportation system. As the Triangle grows,we must compete in the cars to a train. At maximum capacity— 'RA's proposed regional rail system is global marketplace. To remain com- three-car trains operating six minutes also flexible. Service can be extended petitive,the Triangle must have a world apart—the regional rail system can pro- wherever tracks exist and whenever a class transportation system that provides vide the passenger-carrying capacity of cooperative agreement with railroad real choices. just as we travel outside the a six-lane highway. can be negotiated. This means that United States and enjoy using superior virtually all of the region's small towns public transportation systems, we must ►PROVIDES ACCESS TO JOBS and outlying communities are included provide visitors to the Triangle with the AND EMPLOYEES in the Regional Transit Plan as pos- level of public transportation expected Employers and employees alike will ben- sible long-range rail extensions. in world-class regions. efit from regional transit. Employerswill be able to attract employees from a larger geographic area. They will also be able to benefit from lower develop- ment costs because fewer parking spaces will be required. Employees, especially low income and disadvantaged workers, will be able to broaden their opportunities. With the j", start of the regional bus system in 1993, job seekers have been able to travel across the Triangle in search of opportu- nities. But the cost in time can be -, substantial; a Durham to Raleigh ex- press bus ride takes 75 minutes. The same trip on regional rail will take only 44 minutes,nearly cutting the round trip commute in half. Self-propelled diesel rail vehicle-Regional Rail Spring 1995, Choices