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Infrastructure Mass Transit

Loop Trolley Final Route

Here is the Loop Trolley Company’s report on the final route. Since the proposed line could be a stimulus to investment in the buildings and parcels facing the route, our readers might be interested. Will the trolley be a catalyst for rehabilitation of remaining vacant buildings like Wabash Station, or (in wilder dreams) restoration of Isadore Shank’s DeBalievere Building (1926)? Will it spur dense infill on vacant lots (an outcome that owners of sites of demolished barbeque restaurants might wish)? Time will tell. For now, we know that there are changes in the trolley route and its terminals.

Loop Trolley final route – incl. station placement, maintenance facility and termini

3 replies on “Loop Trolley Final Route”

The Transport Politic posted a warning about this proposal yesterday:
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2012/09/18/dont-forget-the-zoning/ In my opinion, he has a point. Here in Buffalo, in the 1980s, we built a new light rail line. It is successful in terms of ridership because it goes between important destinations in the region but it has not been successful in sense of TOD (Transit-Oriented Development). The land above and around it continues to be gas stations and rubble-strewn lots. The big reason for that, it turns out, is that the land continues to be zoned like you would a state highway – low density, gas stations, and requiring lots of parking. In fact, the parking requirements are actually higher next to the light rail than elsewhere. We are working on fixing all this, but anyway – the blog makes a point that I can confirm. Without supporting land use regulation, it doesn’t matter how much money you put into infrastructure. You still won’t get new good/dense development, if that is the intent with this trolley.

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