Rising up or falling down? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my hometown, Chicago, the CTA raised fares today. Lots of people are upset, and for good reason. In many cases it’s easy to blame the low hanging fruit – mismanagement, corruption, government waste, high salaries and benefits, etc. Often, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is none of these things. Raising fares is a rational response to a systemic problem in this country – the poor state of good repair as it’s called in the business, or the lack of well maintained infrastructure. It is a lack of a commitment nationwide to maintaining our infrastructure – and the problem is that we’re overbuilt – causing these state of good repair issues. And I don’t mean that we’re overbuilt on transit – it’s the roads, our development pattern and our suburban experiment that is bankrupting us.
CTA, like transit properties nationwide and like Metra here in Chicago, is raising fares in part due to declining federal and state support for capital expenditures and a poor economy that has devastated the operating side of the budget. This is happening all across the country. Therefore, it’s easy to see how transit gets into a situation, a cycle of slow, but perpetual disinvestment on the capital side, not out of poor management, but rather choices in which one must choose the least bad option. Then, the economy goes down, bringing down sales taxes – the principal operating finance mechanism – and now transit is unable to make payroll. This is referred to as the transit “death spiral.”
Transit is in a pickle. In the vast majority of cities it carries just a fraction of the overall work commute. In the Chicago metropolitan statistical area, that number is 11.5%. We’re in fourth place behind New York (31.1%), Washington D.C. (14.8%), and San Francisco (14.4%). It’s difficult to marshall the political forces needed to support transit locally and nationally when only 11.5% of the region’s work trips are made by transit. These numbers are so low precisely because of the built environment we have created. And until the fundamentals of that growth mechanism known as our suburban experiment change, I think the cycle of disinvestment in our infrastructure is likely to continue.
This strays a little from the topics on this blog so let me explain. I just finished reading a fantastic book, The Control of Nature, by John McPhee. In the book, McPhee examines the human struggle to control nature and how incredibly difficult and perilous it can be. This, of course, is relevant to urban planners, particularly in the realm of transportation. But let me back up a bit.
The Old River Control Structure is a floodgate system located in central Louisiana. It is designed to regulate the flow of the Mississippi by a diversion of flow into the Atchafalaya River via a side channel known as Old River. Water is normally distributed at a 70%/30% split with 30% diversion to the Atchafalaya River for flood control purposes. Sounds like simple engineering, right?
Well, here is the problem. The Atchafalaya where it meets the Mississippi at Old River is about 18 feet below the Mississippi. Should Old River fail during a flood, there is serious concern that the Mississippi would jump the levees that act like a straitjacket and follow the Atchafalaya down to the Gulf of Mexico (see map below).
Maps showing the history of the course of the Mississippi river at what is now the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Why the course change? It’s happened before and it will happen again. In fact, the Atchafalaya was the main channel of the Mississippi River 3,000 years ago. Much of Louisiana is built on the gigantic delta of the Mississippi. The problem is that humans have made permanent settlement on a river system that routinely jumps its banks. Should this happen, New Orleans would essentially become cut off from the Gulf and the associated port facilities, pipelines, oil production and communication facilities would be stranded.
Needless to say transportation throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River systems would be altered, and a significant amount of our oil refining capacity would be taken off-line. Transport costs would soar, not to mention the human costs of a built infrastructure that has lost its viability. Ponder that for a minute as we plan our cities and transportation networks. Are we sure they will last, that they can coexist with nature?
Following up on the seriesofpostson transportation investments in Olympic host cities, I thought it appropriate to explain what the transportation investments are for the 2012 Olympic Games. First, it’s important to note that transportation investments are legacy investments, most of these are long-term investments and will benefit Londoners for generations. The legacy investments in transportation cost a staggering £6.5 billion ($10.1 billion USD). These investments include the following:
Stratford Regional Station
Aerial view of Stratford Regional Station. Taken on 3/24/11 by Anthony Charlton via flickr.
Stratford Regional Station is a major connection point that links the London Underground’sCentral and Jubilee Lines, the Docklands Light Railway, the London Overground North London Line and several National Rail Services. This station will be a gateway for the Olympic Games and to the Stratford area of East London. £125 million ($194 million USD) has been invested into the station in preparation for the Games. During the Games this station will serve 10 different rail routes, making it one of the most connected stations in all of London.
The high level platforms serve the London Overground North London line, London Underground Central Line, the DLR via Poplar and the National Rail services on the top-level platforms (see photo, left). The lower level platforms serve the Jubilee Line and DLR via Canning Town. In the future, Stratford Regional will also connect with Crossrail services.
London Overground
The East London line opened in May 2010 and has been incorporated into the London Overground system. The service links 21 stations from Dalston Junction in east London to West Croydon and Crystal Palace in the south. Four brand new step-free stations have been built and the existing stations have been fully refurbished.
Capacity and service frequency have also been increased on the London Overground’s North London line, which connects Richmond and Clapham Junction in south-west London to Stratford Regional via North London. The upgrade includes new signals, track and rolling stock, and longer platforms so the line can operate four car trains. The video below provides a pretty good idea of the investments made on the London Overground.
Stratford International Station
Descending the escalator from the ticket hall. Via diamond geezer @ flickr
Stratford International Station is a mainline railway and DLR station located in the center of Olympic Park. It’s located on High Speed 1 between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet International in the Stratford region. The DLR was extended from Canning Town north to provide a connection from Stratford International to the rest of the London public transport network.
During the Olympic Games this line will be used by the Javelin service, which will be able to transport thousands of passengers an hour. Service frequencies of eight trains per hour is planned between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet during the Olympic Games. Travel time to St. Pancras is 7 minutes.
Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
Extension of the DLR north to Stratford International. Source: TheTrams.co.uk
An extension of the DLR is from Canning Town to the new Stratford International station. It will stop at Stratford and West Ham stations as well as new DLR stations at Stratford International, Star Lane, Abbey Road, and Stratford High Street.
Another extension of the DLR is under the River Thames from King George V near London City Airport to Woolwich Arsenal station. This extension opened in January 2009. It provides a north–south link to the Olympic Park and Stratford area and offers better connections to East and South London. 55 new railcars have been ordered for the DLR, enabling it to run three car trains on its network.
London Underground
Capacity on the Jubilee line was increased by 17% following the addition of seven car trains in 2006. A new signaling system will increase capacity by a further 33% through faster more frequent services.
A new northern ticket hall opened at King’s Cross St. Pancras station in November 2009, providing a vital new link for passengers arriving on Eurostar services and National Rail services. Combined with the western ticket hall – which opened in 2006 – it has quadrupled the capacity of the station, cutting congestion and significantly improving accessibility.
Emirates Air Line
A cable car over the River Thames will be built with the sponsorship of Emirates air carrier. The £60 million ($93 million USD) project will link Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks. The cable car could provide a crossing every 15 seconds carrying up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction, equivalent to the capacity of 50 buses.
Orient Way
To open land up for the Olympic Park, a large train storage yard depot used to store trains serving Liverpool Street Station during peak hours was relocated from the heart of the Olympic Park to a new 12-track facility at Orient Way to the northeast of Olympic Park.
Notes
Note how I have really only mentioned rail investments. That’s the beauty of the London Games is that there are virtually no permanent capital investments in the road network. Sure, there will be temporary park-and-ride facilities outside the M25, and there are miles of pedestrian and bike trails within and around Olympic Park, but virtually every major permanent capital investment is in rail. These transportation investments have been regenerating Stratford and the East London with new development, including one of the largest commercial developments in Europe, Stratford City.
This is, I believe, a positive legacy of hosting the Olympic Games. Increasing access and mobility to some of the poorest in the UK while providing jobs and a richer environment is a legacy worth having.
Almost 2 weeks ago I responded to a Streetsblog article that had a list of seven questions to ask as the transportation bill conference committee that was underway. I was unhappy with the questions in the article and felt that they were more beltway politics than transportation policy questions. Tanya Snyder, Streetsblog’s Capitol Hill editor, was kind enough to respond to my post, and she addressed in detail all of my questions. I appreciate the in-depth response and urge you to check out the post.
D.C. Streetsblog had a list of seven questions to ask as the Transportation Bill conference was underway on Tuesday. I think the problem with their questions are that they are too focused on the sausage making rather than the content. It’s disappointing, I suppose, that such an insightful organization such as Streetsblog can fall victim to the back and forth ball game of politics when so much in transportation is on the line. Perhaps I am naive, but if I had the opportunity, these are the seven questions I would like to ask of the Transportation Committees:
How will public transportation fare in the bill after being practically decapitated in the last round of talks?
How do we handle the overwhelming state of good repair issues impacting all transportation infrastructure?
How does the bill recognize the long (and short) term societaltrends towards transportation that does not include the automobile.
