Agenda - 02-05-1990 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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a - ..'sue" - � —.`�: - --111-::::4:.7 .*_ti-r- S'2�a�j i_1 � Express yourself parks. further and further out; until MR. SPECTATOR: conceivably the whole region is one big Concerning the Triangle Express proposal sprawl, from Henderson to Fayetteville. to build a trolley line linking the region: I Property values nearly doubled all along the think it's the best idea I've heard in all the Poniard lix�even before l he trolleys the years I've lived here. The Triangle running. follow If we Express, for the desperately needs some son of transit system: density it wIf w has needed one. in fact. for years now. density to appear— Transportation planners lard others) who We nerd the Triangle Express trolleys. scoff at Triangle Express remind me of the We need progressive,visionary transportation and Victorian ecologist who. seeing a giraffe for planners who aren't politicians tn�► the the first time. exclaimed "There is no such equally pro r�� their vision,with the animal!" "Transponttion," to them. means strength to cars, and "planning" is making more roads development into corridors transit can serve. for cars to run on. Alternatives are beyond We don'1 aced to follow the same old"more their blirrdered comprehension. They should roads"pattern of past years— it's ruined our visit Portland. Oregon, whose recently built downtowns. polluted our air. decimated our trolley line is so popular that it had to double farms and forests with urban sprawl. We've is r,!.arity, even on weekends. The been on that wrong for a never road—a. too Department of Transportation, no less. says long. It's high that the line has eliminated 15 million auto K. N.C. Smith trips a year, and is urging Portland to build MoniPurer i, more. am. The Portland line probably isn't recouping its cost: neither would Triangle Express. Neither will the Outer Loop, the Southern Parkway. or the widening of 1.40 and 1.85. Consider mass transit Incidentally, the cost of the Outer Loop (serving only Raleigh)would be 5700 million: The concept of efficient. affordable the cost of Triangle Express (serving the mass transit concept the efficient. Triangle l . is fordable whole region)—5275 million.Thais a savings According to the Federal Highway immeasurable million ing oar tcl der air. less Administration, areas with populations rbn pry savings r cleaner air. less under 1 million that are experiencing urban sprawl and a safer watershed. rapid growth can expect congestion These same experts say that we haven't increases of more than 1,000 percent the density to support mass transit. implying that if we wait 20 or 30 years. enough over the next 20 years. skyscrapers and apartment blocks will have Surely cities such as Los Angeles, been built on every corner to feed a rail line. Dent Denver and Houston are os examples of I doubt it. The growth will probably follow what accommodating ree automobile the same pattern as before:more roads.more has done. In'these ngret 90 automobile le of followed outer-outer loops sub bs, al widenings: the workers commute by car.as opposed followed by more suburbs. malls and office to 40 percent in European cities where efficient mass transit is in place. In California the average commuter speed is 33 mph. By the year 2000. allowing for population growth. it is expected to drop to 15 mph. The loss of valuable land required for roads and parking should be of major concern. Close to half of all urban space in the enited States is used to accommo- date the automobile. Policies have long postured auto de- pendence at the expense of cost- et fective. environmentally sound alter- natives. It's time to reconsider these • policies. JODY SITZ Chapel Hill