apple juice

We are way behind…

“. . .Japan’s zip through the countryside at an average of 180 m.p.h. One difference, of course, is that governments overseas have put big money behind these forms of transit. Spain, for example, plans to invest about $140 billion over the next decade to develop a network of 6,200 miles of high-speed rail lines.”

(Via Editorial – America’s Not-So-Fast Trains – NYTimes.com.)

Spain plans to invest $140 billion dollars on rail in the next 10 years.

Where is our plan for high-speed rail?

The government has identified 10 corridors, each from 100 to 600 miles long, with greatest promise for high-speed development.

They are: a northern New England line; an Empire line running east to west in New York State; a Keystone corridor running laterally through Pennsylvania; a major Chicago hub network; a southeast network connecting the District of Columbia to Florida and the Gulf Coast; a Gulf Coast line extending from eastern Texas to western Alabama; a corridor in central and southern Florida; a Texas-to-Oklahoma line; a California corridor where voters have already approved a line that will allow travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours; and a corridor in the Pacific Northwest.

via Obama Seeks High-Speed Rail System for U.S. – NYTimes.com.

Emphasis mine. Great news! Here’s to hoping that train trips to Duluth and Chicago are in the near future!

With $8 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail corridors and intercity passenger rail up for grabs, Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday ordered a statewide study to determine the best rail projects for which Minnesota should pursue stimulus funding.

via It’s full steam ahead on Minnesota rail plans.

I’m pretty sure that this is the same Gov. Pawlenty that has tried to, uh, derail, these projects in the past, but whatever… there’s no time like the present!

With $8 billion in the federal stimulus package devoted to high-speed rail projects, supporters of the long-planned high-speed train from Chicago to St. Paul are scrambling to prepare a proposal strong enough to grab some of that money.

via High-speed train from Chicago: Next stop, Minneapolis?.

It wasn’t clear to me if this was “High-Speed” as the US Government currently defines it… 89mph I think. Or if it was High Speed as the Japanese might define it.

Update: After reading the article a bit closer, it’s 110mph, as is the current government definition… it would be a 5 1/2 hour trip.

Either way, great news for traveling out of minneapolis/st. paul to chicago. And great news for rail around the country.

Article today in the Star Tribune — What route is best for Southwest LRT

The basic arguments come down to: What’s fastest for suburban commuters, who’s backyard will it run through, and which neighborhoods are we going to connect.

My gut reaction in looking at the alignments is that it would be best to curve through uptown, connecting uptown, eat street, and downtown.

But perhaps there are further plans on the drawing board… maybe a streetcar line starting around calhoun, and then tracking uptown/eat street/downtown? Then you can have the LRT line run a more direct route, and serve the dense populations of uptown/downtown with streetcars.

It’s hard to say without knowing what the larger system looks like, and this is the fundamental flaw in looking at each of these proposed lines in isolation. It doesn’t seem like we’re focused on making a system for the Twin Cities.

I know that plans are out there for successive lines and how it all fits together, but the discussion of this particular alignment needs to take into account the larger vision, otherwise I can just imagine that the public hearing will come down to a lot of bickering.

It is good to see that we’re moving forward with additional lines though!

I filled up my vehicle with BioDiesel Fuel today. A blend probably, since it’s still liable to snow at any time around here.

I haven’t filled up since February 22. I drove 550, mostly city, miles. I pumped just under 14 gallons. (40 mpg) The cost per gallon was $3.94.

We need to raise the gas tax, again.

Raising the gas tax is the only reasonable way we will be able to pay for fixing all of these roads, build adequate bridges, pay for buses, and continue to make progress on rail transit.

Now, I know that we just raised it a nickel. Big whoop. Raise it a dollar and dedicate it to rail transit. The day I can ride a street car or train to my job will be a happy, happy day. The day that I can take a streetcar to the train station and ride a train to Duluth in 1 1/2 hours or ride a train to Chicago in 4 hours will be a happy day.

California has a $10 billion dollar proposition on the ballot this fall to build high-speed rail between its major cities. This is the scale of regional investment that the Upper Midwest will need to make in the not-to-distant future.

Big SUVs, the suburbs, and cheap energy are on the way out, and we need to plan accordingly.

First off, if you haven’t been reading MinnPost, you’re missing a lot of great stories.

But, I do have one problem with this (otherwise excellent) story about the troubles facing condo owners and potential owners.

There is a lot of discussion given to mixed-use developments, pointing out that lenders are growing wary of these types of developments. Mixed-use developments are those that include a mix of commercial, retail, rental and residential space (think first-floor coffee shop, condos upstairs). However, there is little discussion about the fact that mixed-use developments are desirable for healthy and vital neighborhoods. They almost got there with this quote:

“Our policies encouraging mixed-use development along transit corridors are still standing and still strong.” — Barbara Sporlein, director of planning for Minneapolis.

Ok, good, but why are we encouraging this?

I think support for mixed-use developments would grow when there is greater coverage given to why it is important for an urban area. (See also “I live downtown; where is the closest grocery store?” and “Places you can stand in Chicago and see two Starbucks stores with lines out the door”)