The SJR has a story about Amtrak being promoted as an eco-friendly travel option. I like taking it to Chicago whenever I go. I don't have to pay for parking or deal with city traffic. And as much as I like Amtrak, I'm in love with the L. I even wrote a song about the Red Line. Yes, I'm a dork.
The story is a good example of how passenger rail drives economic development. Land values and businesses grow around good public transportation. That means there are some up-sides to the possibility of having a high-speed passenger rail corridor and multi-modal center in the middle of downtown Springfield along the 3rd Street corridor.
Yes, there are problems with installing double tracks along the 3rd St corridor, just as there are problems with consolidation on 10th. Neither option is going to cause the destruction of downtown. It's a little irritating to see the downsides of one option over-hyped while drawbacks to the other are ignored. In some ways, the 3rd Street corridor will help downtown grow.
We'll only see the full economic and environmental benefits if we abandon the idea that public transportation is only for people with no other travel options. The trouble with the proposed multi-modal on 11th is that it's based on twenty year old backward ideas about mass transit.
The proposed 11th Street site is surrounded by important social service agencies. No one has been able to answer whether they plan to: 1) Force service agencies out to make room for the promised economic development, or 2) Ask tourists to walk by two shelters, rehab centers and the county jail near a high crime neighborhood at nighttime if they want to visit Springfield. Those are the only two options and neither one sounds appealing.
The local press finally started covering the full picture so we should be able to have a rational discussion about high-speed rail soon, without all the apocalyptic talk of Springfield's impending doom.
This song has been stuck in my head for the last two days...