Light Rail Construction
a photo editorial by Kim Pedersen
We have some of fine examples of monorail being
built in our Construction Gallery,
don't we? Sure we do, but I thought for comparison purposes it
would be nice to show what light rail construction looks like.
So, on August 2, 2002 I visited the Tasman Corridor construction
zone of Santa Clara County's light rail system (SCVTA).
Here's what I found. Let me stress this point...THIS IS NOT
MONORAIL CONSTRUCTION! This is elevated light rail and surface
light rail construction.
My oh my, I don't remember seeing any support structure like this
for monorail. They don't just instantly lift light rail pieces
of track into place like monorail, do they? Say, how much longer
does this take to complete? Perhaps years instead of months? Yep!
Looks like some traffic lanes have been pinched down to one lane
per direction. Don't even think about coming here during commute
hour.
A common site along a light rail corridor...Out of Business! Customers
can't access businesses easily and this goes on for years.
What's wrong with this intersection? Oh yeah, it's closed. Ya
know, I saw a LOT of these closed intersections in just a few
miles along the alignment. At the risk of annoying you by repeating, light rail construction goes on for YEARS!
Hey-Hey-LRT,
How many trees does it take
to make you be?
Wow, I can't even see the sky through this mess! And this is what
transit agencies want? As they say, follow the money!
Let's not forget what kind of space that surface light rail takes
up. What's worse, most of this space is forever taken from vehicles,
even when the system opens. This concludes my tour of light rail
construction. Hope you enjoyed the view, especially those of you
that have this coming to your neighborhood. Don't forget to visit
our Construction Gallery to compare
this with monorail construction.
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