What infrastructure would you like to see?

Okay, with a new party soon to be in the White House, and infrastructure on the front burner, what new projects would you like to see?

Here's my list:

San Francisco Bay: (I live here)
High Speed Rail to LA (we voted this in)
BART 30th street station
BART Van Ness station
BART Shinn station
BART to San Jose, Livermore (Greenville rd), Antioch
BART (conventional, not a people mover) to Oakland Airport. One track branching off from Coliseum.
Muni subway under Geary, 19th Ave, and surface line to replace 24-Divisadero
Caltrain electrification

Boston: (grew up here)
Blue Line to Rte 128
Orange line to 128 (Wakefield-Reading border)
Orange line to 128 (southwest)
North Station -South Station Link

New York City:
PATH to Lexington Ave
Subway to LaGuardia

Atlanta:
Extend any line. Hopefully north, but any line will relieve congestion.

Washington DC
Dulles Line
Purple line

Washington to Atlanta Intermediate Speed Rail

Buffalo light rail to UB north campus

New Orleans : light rail (on raised berm above sea level) linking airport (mainland), gold coast, 9th ward, French Qtr, and downtown.

For Atlanta I think you should add some kind of commuter rail between Atlanta and Athens.

As I recall, there were hopes for a demonstration-type service between Atlanta and Athens for the 1996 Olympics. Some of the venues were in Athens. It probably ran into strong opposition from CSX, because that route carries a lot of freight, which I can attest to because it passes a couple hundred yards from my house on its way through South Carolina.

I'd like to see construction of the long-discussed CTA Circle Line construction get underway. The first short segment, rehabilitation of the Paulina Connector now used by the Pink Line, was completed about 2-3 years ago. However, there's much more left to do. This would create a much larger "Loop"-like routing connecting all CTA transit lines, except for the Yellow Line, away from downtown. There could also be new transfer points between CTA L lines and Metra suburban commuter lines. I'd also like to see a new transit line routed along Cicero Ave on Chicago's west side, perhaps directly connecting O'Hare Airport with Midway Airport. Finally, there's been talk of separate express L routes between downtown Chicago and O'Hare and Midway airports. Let's see it!

As for Metra, I hope more frequent service on some lines might be doable. I take the BNSF and at some points during the middle of the day there's a 2-hour gap between trains. That means if I have to be in the city (or an outer suburb) and want to take the train, I either get in too early or have to schedule for a later, maybe less convenient, time. Otherwise I have to drive. If Metra could run consistent hourly service between rush periods I'd be happy.

That's my wish list. It isn't that unreasonable, is it?

For Atlanta - I would like a new line to Emory and commuter rail to Gainesville Athens and Griffin/Macon.

Most of my list would be on the Amtrak Forum, with links from Nashville-Memphis, Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta.
Missing is a Nashville-Louisville-Cincinnati connection to points east via a daily Cardinal.
I'd settle for some Thruway bus connections to get something started.

For the MCS, a new station south/east of Lebanon near I-40, with a large park & ride lot. A new ROW around downtown Lebanon would be needed. I like the connections with the MTA, the metro bus.
New could be some bus trips from Gallatin & Murfreesboro into Nashville. This would become the next 2 legs of the MCS, on CSX track.

The MTA needs a facility to buy & store larger quantities of fuel & supplies. They should get a better price avoiding the short term spot market.

Before any of the future transit plans for Chicago takes hold, I'd start small first, and see to it that the existing infrastructure for both CTA & Metra are brought to a good state of repair. For CTA, that means enough money to finally rid the system of slow zones, and enough new cars for Metra's electric district to replace the original highliners. Capacity improvements for Metra's UP/W & BNSF routes would be next on the list.

orangeline wrote:As for Metra, I hope more frequent service on some lines might be doable. I take the BNSF and at some points during the middle of the day there's a 2-hour gap between trains. That means if I have to be in the city (or an outer suburb) and want to take the train, I either get in too early or have to schedule for a later, maybe less convenient, time. Otherwise I have to drive. If Metra could run consistent hourly service between rush periods I'd be happy

That's one of the weird quirks of the BNSF schedule; there's an 11:20am train from Aurora on Saturdays to fill in one 2-hour gap, yet it doesn't run during the week. There's likely crew considerations at work here (certainly can't be for lack of equipment), but still, it's pretty strange...

doepack wrote:Before any of the future transit plans for Chicago takes hold, I'd start small first, and see to it that the existing infrastructure for both CTA & Metra are brought to a good state of repair. For CTA, that means enough money to finally rid the system of slow zones, and enough new cars for Metra's electric district to replace the original highliners. Capacity improvements for Metra's UP/W & BNSF routes would be next on the list.

I realize there are certain realities that have to be addressed first, but I see this topic as a "wish list" and the items I listed are what I wish would happen. Maybe if Chicago is awarded the 2016 Olympic Games the money to make necessary repairs to existing infrastructure AND money for new enhancements would be there.

That's one of the weird quirks of the BNSF schedule; there's an 11:20am train from Aurora on Saturdays to fill in one 2-hour gap, yet it doesn't run during the week. There's likely crew considerations at work here (certainly can't be for lack of equipment), but still, it's pretty strange...[/quote]

Also on UP north there's an 1110 train from Waukegan on Sundays and it doesnt run the rest of the week. UP north has a 2-hour gap middays during the week in both directions.

I would like amtrak to add a stop in Gurnee for its Hiawatha and Empire Builder trains.

I would like ALL UP north trains to terminate in Kenosha or Zion instead of Waukegan eliminating the 6 -10 hour gaps.