Doing the math on Toll Tunnel vs. Transit

One mile of Toll Tunnel, proposed recently by the Reason Foundation and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, = $871 million.

{72 mile Brain Train [$383 million]} + {26 mile Atlanta to Lovejoy Commuter Rail Line [$106 million]} + {14 mile Atlanta Streetcar [$350 million]} = $839 million.

One (1) mile of Tunnel would cost $32 million more than 112 miles of Transit, assuming the Atlanta Tunnel didn't come in way over budget as was the case with Boston's Big Dig ($10 billion +)[Dad-Gum!!].

You can find more financial comparisons at Citizens for Progressive Transit and joeventures.

Walk On

In harmony with the "reason for the season", I offer my ode to the most excellent pedestrian to ever walk the earth (sung to the tune of "Walking in Your Footsteps" by The Police):

Walkin’ in His Footsteps

About 2000 years ago
You walked upon this planet so
Now you are Lord of all I see
What is it You see in me?
That you’d ask me to come along
Just like Peter, James and John

(Chorus)
And come walkin’ in your footsteps
Walkin’ in your footsteps

Hey there, Mrs. Prejudiced
Why don’t you make a brand new list
Of different people who could be
Growing in your family tree
And treat all colors like you would
If they all lived in your ‘hood

And come walkin’ in His footsteps
Walkin’ in His footsteps

Hey there, Mr. Ambitious
You want the rest to eat your dust
You know that in that Old Rat Race
Rodents always take first place

(why not come….)
(Chorus)

Hey there, Ms. Material Girl
Why don’t you let go of the World
Those things can’t bring you happiness
Give it all to Him then you’ll be blessed

(Chorus)

Hey there, Mr. Self-Righteous
Humility would be a plus
If we could pull the mask away
Would you go or would you stay?
And join us on that narrow road
Where Jesus lifts your heavy load

(Chorus)

Now we’re here and now it’s time
To search our heart and search our mind
And ask ourselves what He would do
If He was standing in our shoes

(And go….)
(Chorus)

Tunnel Vision: Cycle Tracks Will Abound in Utopia

Addicts can't stop using, even when their addiction costs them everything they have and hurts themselves and those around them. That the Reason Foundation's proposal for toll-road tunnels is even being considered is ample evidence that our city's auto-addicted governmental leadership and transportation planners have developed tunnel-vision regarding transportation. If it don't involve more cars, buses and roads they can't see it. How about a network of giant exhaust pipes for a city already choking on car fumes and traffic? "Reason" has clearly taken the last train out of town.

State Transportation Board Chairman Mike Evans is launching a “What’s The Big Idea?” campaign to facilitate dialogue on “big ideas” that could better address Georgia’s transportation infrastructure needs.

“We’re looking for ‘big ideas’ that could transform transportation in Georgia for the next 50 years,” Evans said, as he solicits input that would “put all options on the table.”

O.K. If we're willing to consider all options and we're open to talking tunnels I'll be happy to put an idea on the table. It's a concept that's being taken seriously in Canada, recently ranking third place in an alternative transportation solutions contest.

Toronto Architect Chris Hardwicke, a man after H.G. Well's heart, proposes "a high speed, all season, pollution free, ultra-quite transit system that makes people healthier. Using an infrastructure of elevated cycle tracks, velo-city creates a network across the City. "

"The elevated bikeways are enclosed in tubes to provide protection for all season cycling. The bikeway tubes are separated by direction of travel to create a dynamic air circulation loop that creates a natural tail-wind for cyclists. The reduction in air resistance increases the efficiency of cycling by about 90% allowing for speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Velo-City promotes exercise as an urban lifestyle."

This is a idea that has been proposed for several years by Bicycle Transportation Systems of Colorado. Visit their website for a thorough explanation of the concept.

We're going to have to do some seriously creative visioning if we are to truly solve the transportation crisis Atlanta is facing. We can't rely on the same thinking that got us into the mess to get us out, to paraphrase Albert Einstein. That's why I think the Reason Foundation's Tunnel-Vision should be dismissed as the nightmare it is. Instead, Bike Tunnels are a viable vision of the future, if reason will prevail.

Potential B & B is walking distance to proposed Commuter Rail Station

2 West Main St. in historic downtown Hampton and within walking distance of the proposed Hampton Commuter Rail Station is an outstanding residential and/or business opportunity.

Less than two miles away it's "life in the fast lane" with the Atlanta Motor Speedway and it's $1,000,000+ trackside condominums. At the other end of the street 2 West Main is like a "walk down memory lane" with it's proximity to a walkable downtown and neighborhoods.

This circa 1892 victorian grande dame has been lovingly renovated with new carpet, drywall, windows, paint, roof and French country kitchen.

The home falls within Hampton's "Bed & Breakfast district" and has excellent potential with it's 11 rooms, including 6 bedrooms, a second kitchen, sunroom, and two reception rooms (the home was recently renovated for wedding receptions).

The home is adjacent to the Hampton Downtown Streetscape Enhancement Zone with $500K of improvements coming out the front door.

For 24 hr. recorded info on the home call 800.523.1606, ext. 2.

Closed Ford Plant could be Transit Town of the future

It's interesting how things cycle around. With two icons of American transportation faultering or failed on Atlanta's Southside (Delta and Ford), it could be rail that helps bring desperately needed economic recovery.

The Ford Motor Plant closing has removed the primary sticking point between Norfolk Southern and GDOT. With the plant shutdown, the eight million dollar track upgrades NS had previously stipulated are no longer necessary, freeing the long-stalled Atlanta - Lovejoy Commuter Rail Project for passenger traffic within two years (DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans says Commuter Rail is "full steam ahead").

The national trend shows six dollars of redevelopment investment for every one dollar of rail investment.

This makes the Ford Plant, with it's position between the rail and downtown Hapeville, ripe for transformation into a Transit-Oriented, Mixed-Use Development.

Greenways...borrow the power in our minds of the River, the Forest, and the Journey

Greenways are popular now for some very good and lasting reasons. They
remind us that our urban environment is not just a fume-choked freeway or
boulevard of billboards.

We may go out of our way to despise the city rather than see it as our own habitat, however unnatural. Here we work, consume, sleep—but we also grow, play, and learn. Few of us live near the rainforests or Arctic wilderness that attract so much environmental attention. We experience our lives as urban people—by the year 2000, over 80% of Americans will live in cities or suburban areas. And yet there is wildness,if not Wilderness by bureaucratic designation, in our urban areas.

As conservationists, greenways, as places where the natural world lives in the midst of cities, deserve more of our attention. Most of us have an image of a greenway as a river plus a trail. Those are the typical ingredients in greenway systems—some as large and complex as the Hudson River, others as small as the nameless creek through a townhouse project. Other greenway corridors include road and utility rights-of-way, abandoned rail lines, drainageways and canals.

All these combine the natural with the industrial, provide recreation and wildlife habitat, and link utilities and living streams. In short, greenways are linear parks that borrow the power in our minds of the River, the Forest, and the Journey.

The importance of greenways lies in this diversity. While greenways provide
some very tangible benefits to the urban world, they also make appealing
environmental projects....

—STUART MACDONALD, (Colorado State Trails Coordinator), Greenways: Preserving our Urban Environment, Trilogy, 1991

Endangered Species: North American Biped

Peachtree Corridor

The Peachtree Corridor Task Force has launched its new Web site. To visit the site, click here or type www.peachtreecorridor.com into your Internet browser.

Formed by Mayor Shirley Franklin in November 2005, the Peachtree Corridor Task Force is charged with developing strategic recommendations to transform the Peachtree Corridor into a foremost destination for Atlanta's visitors and residents. The goal of the task force is to create one grand boulevard linking together the city's diverse but complementary business, entertainment, cultural and residential centers.

The spine of this corridor will be a steetcar system.