"There is only a difference in magnitude between a gated community and a speed bumped community. Since gated communities pay for their own internal infrastructure they are actually more socially participatory. They aren't looking for the general public to pay for their benefits." - Robert Coté
Welcome to my transportation pages. These pages contain original research
and opinion written by yours truly, as well as links other sites I find of
interest. A lot of this is information and analysis available no where
else on the web! Enjoy. Feeback to
arenn@urbanophile.com
is most welcome.
These pages are currently under revision. My latest transportation research and analysis is available on my transportation and urban planning blog:
TEA21: How Did Indiana Do? A look at how Indiana fares under the new transportation funding law. Includes a list of all special funding Indiana highway and transit projects.
Regional Analysis II: The Crossroads 2000 Plan (48K text). An analysis of every single project in Gov. Frank O'Bannon's Crossroads 2000 plan and an accounting of where the money is going. This is a followup study to my original Regional Analysis (29K text) study. Again, the results are quite surprising. I also have a complete listing of all Crossroads 2000 projects (44K text) online. If you prefer, the list can be downloaded as a zipped Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (29K zip) ready for you to perform your own analysis on.
Indianapolis: No Parking, No Problem Think a lack of convenient, cheap parking is an obstacle to getting people to come downtown to work, play, and shop? Think again. Parking is a deterrent at the margin in the worst case, and too much parking can actually hurt downtown.
Indiana: Why I Like INDOT Better Every Day. A few of the things INDOT is doing right and how the agency continues to improve daily.
Chicago: Destination Alternate Reality. The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) has provided the world with a perfect example of how not to do a long range transportation plan. The Chicago plan is a feel good document loaded with billions in pie in the sky expansion projects and does nothing to improve the conditions of the existing transit and highway infrastructure in Chicago. A closer look at the boondoggle Destination 2020 plan.
I am a prolific (and verbose) letter writer and have sent numerous citizen
comment letters in response to studies and project proposals. Here are a few
of them:
Comments on the Indianapolis
Comprehensive Rail Study. (11K text)
Comments on INDOT's 1995 Construction
Season.
Comments on INDOT's 1996 Construction
Season.
The sections of I-465 in Indianapolis between Brookville Rd. and
Washington St. has eight numbered routes running concurrently: I-465,
US 31, US 36, US 40, US 52, US 421, SR 37, and SR 67. To the best
of my knowledge this is the most multiplexed rotues anywhere in the
United States.
Note that some maps show US 52 circling the loop to the south. These maps
are wrong.
Pendleton Pike (US 36/SR 67) was constructed in 1919 as a 20 foot wide
concrete road. The original concrete is still in use under the current
road surface.
The Chicago Transit Authority Howard L line was built on railroad right
of way north of Wilson. (Note how the line is built on fill instead of a
steel superstructure). The CTA itself operated freight service on the line
as recently as 1973.
Here is a collection of older items that are either irrelevant or
no longer being maintained. They are listed here in keeping with my
philosophy that pages should not disappear from the web without good reason.
Descriptions of major planned surface transportation improvements:
A description of all planned interchange
improvements.
This includes before and after descriptions, costs,
and estimated construction timeframes where known. Projects in the
recent past are also included. This page is significantly out of date.
For three years, from 1998 to 2000, I published a
weekly ezine about the trials and travails of being a regular
commuter on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Readers were kept up
to date with CTA news and rumors. And a never ending catalog of CTA
screwups was maintained. Lots of good material for those seeking horror
stories about public transit. The Breakdown was profiled in such
publications as the Chicago Reader
(which included a photograph of Yours Truly and the
Chicago Tribune.
These are my pages rallying support of adding a high speed rail link from
Louisville (and possibly Lexington and Nashville) to Indianapolis to the
proposed Midwest high speed rail network. There are maps, studies, news
articles and more that go way beyond the Louisville extension. While I stopped
updating this site once Indiana and Kentucky transportation officials
got on board with my idea, there is still a lot of good info here.
Indiana:
FY 2000-2002 INSTIP Summary.
A listing of the major expansion projects in INDOT's three year highway
construction plan.
Indianapolis:
Life in the Slow Lane: How INDOT is Underfunding Indianapolis Road Improvements
(66K text). A lengthy, detailed analysis of why INDOT was systematically
underfunding the Indianapolis highway system. This paper is now less
relevant because INDOT stepped up to the plate dramatically expanded its
plans for Indy.
Indiana:
A Regional Analysis of Proposed INDOT Highway Expansion Projects (29K text).
Think your city is not gettings its fair share of road funds? Find out if
you are right or just blowing smoke. This paper analyzes every ever expansion
project INDOT has programmed and tabulates the results by region. The
results will surprise you. This research is based on very dated INDOT
data and should not be used for current analysis unless it is completely
updated. This study was a key input into my Life in the Slow Lane
paper above.
Indianapolis:
Facing the Future.
The Indianapolis area is projected to suffer from
dramatically increased traffic congestion in the 25 years. A study looks
at ways to bust gridlock and preserve our quality of life.
Here are a few research and opinion papers available elsewhere on the net
that I find particularly interesting.
Highway Aggravation: The Case
for Privatizing the Highways (113K text) by Peter Samuel. A devastating indictment
of the way we build and operate highways in America. The author's claim:
That America is following the communist economic model for highways and that
rush hour congestion is our equivalent to the Russian bread lines. His
answer: Privatize highways and implement congestion toll pricing to
discourage rush hour travel. Caveats: This paper was published by the
Cato Insitute, a conservative think tank and that should be kept in mind
while reading. For a real life example of a toll road with congestion pricing
(and, incidentially, no toll booths) see the home page of the new
407 Express Toll Route in Toronto.
The Mythical Conception of Rail Transit in Los Angeles (206K PDF) by Jonathan
E. D. Richmond. A look at why, despite studies which showed it was not a
good solution, Los Angeles decided to spend billions on light rail transit
lines. Offers lessons to every community enamoured with light rail versus
bus service. Caveats: None, an excellent all around paper. (Note that this
document is in Adobe's Portable Document Format and requires a browser
plugin to read. Adobe provides a no cost plugin
that you can download).
Just Say No to Frames, Ads, Flash, and Animated GIF's
Letters
Fun Facts and Trivia
Archival Items
Indianapolis Transportation System and Plans
Older Research and Opinion
External Research Article Links
Copyright © 1997,1998,2002,2003 Aaron M. Renn
(arenn@urbanophile.com)
All Rights Reserved
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