Update to yesterday's post: I recommend PRT for business campuses, when in fact a people mover is what I was thinking when I proposed the idea. Large, semi-on demand vehicles that could carry about 20 people at a time to one of a few destinations, much like the University of West Virginia's system. The more I think about it, the more my idea starts to look like a last mile light rail. Thanks to Cavan for the insightful link in his comment. It somewhat supported my theory that people movers were good for large campuses, and it also elucidated on many of the hyperbolic myths of PRT proposals. Once again, if it were really feasible, Europe and the Far East would have been doing it years ago.
***
Ryan Avent posted a story that recommending removal of the Southeast-Southwest Freeway (I-395) though downtown. I like the idea of getting rid of this highway and reestablishing the Axises for Maryland Avenue and Virginia Avenue. However I left a comment on Aven'ts site pondering the need for a regional study before removing a freeway, which was attacked by a couple of other commentors. Perhaps I didn't clearly state the thought that the study ought to be the precursor to a plan that not only eliminates the freeway, but also beefs up transit and walkability in the areas that feed the freeway set for removal. Is this such a bad idea? Seems like a win/win to me.
Perhaps what catalyzed the rebuttals was my mentioning that highways in DC have one benefit, insofar as they keep industrial and military traffic off the regular city streets. Industrial traffic is an eyesore, and ought to be limited on city streets with regulations, but I don't suppose it is a major issue if through industrial traffic traveled on roads like North Capitol Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Undesirable, but not appalling.
Military traffic, on the other hand, has absolutely no business whatsoever on the city streets of the Nation's Capital. I firmly believe this. Military vehicles flying up and down monumental boulevards may fly in Moscow, Pyongyang, or Tehran, but it has no business happening in DC. Not in the Capital. not for all the tourists to see. Considering the Pentagon and three military bases (NAS Anacostia, Bolling AFB, and Ft. McNair) in Southeast are directly served by the Freeway plus indirect service to Ft. Meyer, Andrews AFB, Ft. Meade, Ft. Belvoir, and MCB Quantico, some considerations ought to be made with what to do with that traffic. Certainly a segregated two-way street ought to do the trick, but this also ought to be heavily considered with the removal of the freeway. The capital of any nation will need to serve military traffic, unfortunately, and we ought to give strong consideration to keeping this traffic off of the city streets at all costs.
***
I was in Rosslyn tonight. I've spent plenty of time around the other stations on that stretch of the Orange Line, but not Rosslyn. I was amazed at how dead that area is after 9pm on a weeknight. I went up to Court House (just one stop on Metro [don't worry I walked]) to get chili at Hard Times Cafe, and the difference was amazing. Pedestrians, storefronts, and night life could be observed buzzing with activity. I wonder why Rosslyn, which is served by two (and soon, three) Metro Lines is so dead after 9pm. Of course, one night there doesn't make me an expert. Perhaps I just chose a bad evening.
Showing posts with label PRT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PRT. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
PRT in Business Parks
I aborted my plans to protest my office's lack of transit access by sleeping in my office tonight. A colleague passed away over the weekend and I deemed the ensuing fanfare of the sleep-in highly inappropriate, all things considered. I'm sure that little improvement will be made in the next 365 days, however, so I'll give it another go next year.
Last week, The Overhead Wire wrote a post on PRT. Now, I agree with the overall sentiment in the comment thread on this one. If PRT was the least bit practical, it would already be up and running in East Asia or Europe. They know how to spend transit money over there. Though often proposed, it has not yet been widely implemented in any cities.
There are a couple of places, though, where PRT or people movers have been implemented. At the University of West Virginia, they have been using a such a system since 1975 to get students around the campus at Morgantown. London's Heathrow Airport will be rolling out a true PRT system next year, but the verdict is still out as to whether or not the system will achieve any success. There are also a planned system in Dubai, however they'll throw money at any half cocked project over there. The first two projects have something in common that may contribute to their success, however... they are getting people around a campus rather than public space.
Talk of replacing systems like Metro, the New York City Subway, the T in Boston, and Chicago's El with PRT would be absolutely ridiculous. But I don't think it would be that crazy to see if PRT could fix the "last mile" problem for business campuses like the one where I work in central Maryland. Perhaps a PRT could connect a couple of buildings in an office park to a Metro, MARC or VRE station a reasonable distance away (close enough that a PRT system would be feasible, but not close enough for transit oriented development to be more cost-effective).
Naturally, it makes more sense to redevelop an area and make it more walkable. but if a large company or government institution operates a large, spread out business campus (I'm looking at you, military bases). It would be important to make these systems usable only by approved personnel.
Perhaps Bethesda's Medical Center stop would be a good test case. The campuses of Suburban Hospital, NIH, Bethesda Naval Medical Center, and the Forest Glen Annex of Walter Reed are all within a reasonable distance, but the campuses are dreadfully car oriented. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center would be another candidate, employing 10,000 people on a 1,300 acre campus that is not accessible from not-too-far-away Greenbelt Metro Station. NIST in Gaithersburg is close enough to Shady Grove station to make it feasible. Fort Meade, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meyer, and Andrews AFB could use whatever accessibility they can get. And of course, there are the Airports, though ours probably don't need as much added mobility as Heathrow. Plus I'm sure there are a few office parks in Columbia, Reston, and other outlying cities where PRT might be more cost-effective than redeveloping the entire campuses. If PRT can cut it.
At the end of the day, PRT is not a solution. It promotes sprawl the same way cars do. But it would be a reasonable way to retrofit spread-out office campuses until it is economical to redevelop them. It could ostensibly take cars off the road if it connects businesses to transit. I could also remove surface parking lot, which ironically could speed up the redevelopment of such locations.
So replacing Metro with PRT is a laughable prospect. But if the Heathrow experiment works out, perhaps we ought to consider it as an alternative to promote transit use for job centers like mine at Fort Meade, which houses over 30,000 jobs, not to mention the nearby contractor facilities and 5,700 new jobs expected over the next decade, all without transit access. If connecting those jobs to transit could take 1/8 of the cars off the road, we're talking about 5,000 cars a day not on the highways burning gasoline, creating traffic and pollution, or sucking up land with asphalt parking spaces.
Last week, The Overhead Wire wrote a post on PRT. Now, I agree with the overall sentiment in the comment thread on this one. If PRT was the least bit practical, it would already be up and running in East Asia or Europe. They know how to spend transit money over there. Though often proposed, it has not yet been widely implemented in any cities.
There are a couple of places, though, where PRT or people movers have been implemented. At the University of West Virginia, they have been using a such a system since 1975 to get students around the campus at Morgantown. London's Heathrow Airport will be rolling out a true PRT system next year, but the verdict is still out as to whether or not the system will achieve any success. There are also a planned system in Dubai, however they'll throw money at any half cocked project over there. The first two projects have something in common that may contribute to their success, however... they are getting people around a campus rather than public space.
Talk of replacing systems like Metro, the New York City Subway, the T in Boston, and Chicago's El with PRT would be absolutely ridiculous. But I don't think it would be that crazy to see if PRT could fix the "last mile" problem for business campuses like the one where I work in central Maryland. Perhaps a PRT could connect a couple of buildings in an office park to a Metro, MARC or VRE station a reasonable distance away (close enough that a PRT system would be feasible, but not close enough for transit oriented development to be more cost-effective).
Naturally, it makes more sense to redevelop an area and make it more walkable. but if a large company or government institution operates a large, spread out business campus (I'm looking at you, military bases). It would be important to make these systems usable only by approved personnel.
Perhaps Bethesda's Medical Center stop would be a good test case. The campuses of Suburban Hospital, NIH, Bethesda Naval Medical Center, and the Forest Glen Annex of Walter Reed are all within a reasonable distance, but the campuses are dreadfully car oriented. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center would be another candidate, employing 10,000 people on a 1,300 acre campus that is not accessible from not-too-far-away Greenbelt Metro Station. NIST in Gaithersburg is close enough to Shady Grove station to make it feasible. Fort Meade, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meyer, and Andrews AFB could use whatever accessibility they can get. And of course, there are the Airports, though ours probably don't need as much added mobility as Heathrow. Plus I'm sure there are a few office parks in Columbia, Reston, and other outlying cities where PRT might be more cost-effective than redeveloping the entire campuses. If PRT can cut it.
At the end of the day, PRT is not a solution. It promotes sprawl the same way cars do. But it would be a reasonable way to retrofit spread-out office campuses until it is economical to redevelop them. It could ostensibly take cars off the road if it connects businesses to transit. I could also remove surface parking lot, which ironically could speed up the redevelopment of such locations.
So replacing Metro with PRT is a laughable prospect. But if the Heathrow experiment works out, perhaps we ought to consider it as an alternative to promote transit use for job centers like mine at Fort Meade, which houses over 30,000 jobs, not to mention the nearby contractor facilities and 5,700 new jobs expected over the next decade, all without transit access. If connecting those jobs to transit could take 1/8 of the cars off the road, we're talking about 5,000 cars a day not on the highways burning gasoline, creating traffic and pollution, or sucking up land with asphalt parking spaces.
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