Parks, Homes, Bikes, Trains? Debating RR Rights of Way
Lake has said that more studies are needed before the rights of way offered by the railroads are possibly purchased for a light-rail line, parks, or a bicycle path. Putting aside the parks and bicycle path as perhaps frivolous options, I think the use of the lands for a light-rail system, or even a bus-only right of way, is sorely needed.
As I lack the resources to fund my own studies, I turned to page 20 of the Aug. 20 edition of the Los Angeles Times Magazine for my raw data. The highlights are:
Average freeway speed: 31 m.p.h. Predicted averaged speed in the year 2010: 19 m.p.h.
Cost of building a mile of freeway: $100 million for Interstate 105, now in progress.
Increased mass transit would increase productivity both for drivers, who would spend less time on the roads when more people get out of their cars and into a rail line/busway, and for everyday transit riders, many of whom are less fortunate financially.
MATTHEW HETZ
Los Angeles
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