America in the mid-20th century had cities to burn. Did we care if the freeways scooped out the hearts of Boston or Detroit like we scooped the seeds from a cantaloupe? We did not! Entirely new communities would be built around the old cities.
But as time passed, a counter-current developed, and Americans began talking about things like New Urbanism and Urban Villages and Transit-Oriented Development, just as though nobody had ever done those things before.
But of course they had- when the streetcar and interurban were new, lines were laid to vacant land to be sold for houses, and in many cases the streetcar company built the first paved streets in a town. Even today, you can see in Seattle the more substantial buildings along the old streetcar lines and compare them with the less substantial development off, or beyond, the lines.
Does it make sense, in cities that are already heavily electrified, to install overhead wires for transit? Common sense would suggest that, operating in conjunction with other policies, it does.
Installing overhead wires is a signal to homeowners and businesses that the transit corridor will stay, and that it will be quiet and free of transit tailpipe emissions. Developed in conjunction with other city policies, such as Seattle’s policies of arterial development, it helps build the skeletal frame and allows higher densities with more street-level retail and less parking and traffic. The inclusion of a transit agency in the ratepaying base of the electric utility improves the utility’s ability to bargain for the purchase of power and to install the mechanical structure needed to deliver it.
In short, building the infrastructure for clean silent electric transit is expensive, but promises rewards if the goal is building a sustainable community. And we have every reason to believe that sustainability may be the challenge of the 21st century, and require a global effort to achieve that will cast into shadow every previous human accomplishment.
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s facinating to look at the evolution of Seattle transportation corridors and urban development through the decades by looking at streetcar, then trolley route lines.
Looking forward several more decades, fossil fuel supplies will dwindle and prices soar to acknowledge the high demand for petroleum products used for everthing from plastics to jet fuel. Alternate energy sources will surely be developed – generating mostly electricity. ETB networks will thrive in that environment, while B797′s sit idle waiting for a fill-up.
Dismantling the trolley lines would be an increadibly stupid thing to do today, even though they cost a bit more to operate at current diesel prices.
Actually, they cost less to operate. The recent audit’s argument is that they cost more to buy. That’s a claim I don’t believe and am asking the auditors to look into the first cost issue further.
It’s also looking that most new energy sources coming online will generate electricity (wind, solar, thermal, tidal, nuclear). Diesel is looking like investing in canals.