Mass Transit Plan

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (and Streetcars!).

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Dusty
Human Relations
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 10:53 pm
Location: Central Florida

Mass Transit Plan

Post by Dusty »

As Omaha looks towards the future, we need to think about mass transit. It seems the city is only concerned about downtown/midtown. Adding a streetcar to the downtown area is a great idea, BUT the "rail" money could be spent better for the growth of the city.  Downtown and Midtown will continue to grow and prosper regardless of a streetcar. The rest of the city needs light-rail to help draw more people from bigger cities. If the city invests in light-rail for the whole city, it will create the infrastructure for mass transit. People will be able to drive, bike, ride the bus or rail. Light-rail will help redevelop urban areas along the transit paths. This will bring tons of new businesses here and new residents.

So this is what I propose:

1. I like the streetcar route connecting downtown with midtown. It creates an easier way to hop from area to area. Instead of building streetcars, work with METRO bus to create a route that does exactly the same. Make the buses for this route special...like neon green. Basically, paint them different so people know right away that bus only does the downtown/midtown circuit. When the city grows, we could look into replacing this route with streetcars.

2. With the money we intended to spend on streetcars, start building light-rail that connects the whole city. This would have to be done in stages and will take time to build, but setting up the city for long term. The goal of the first rail is connect west omaha with downtown. Here are my route suggestions:
  • Cuming-Maple Route:
    This route starts at the airport and connects to the qwest center on Cuming St. It continues on Cuming until Saddle Creek. Then it head up north to NW Radial HWY. Then goes onto Maple and connects with Benson. Then continues on Maple until 144th or 168th.

    Leavenworth-Center Route:
    Starts on 16th & Leavenworth and heads west until Saddle Creek. Take Saddle Creek to Center. And Center goes west until 180th.

    Dodge Route:
    168th and dodge to downtown with a possibility on expanding into Council Bluffs.

    Sorenson-Military-90th Route:
    Connects Airport to sorenson parkway and goes until it ends on 90th. 2 other routes could leave this irvington station....90th and Sorenson heads up military and connects with the Benson station. Another goes from 90th and Sorenson and goes south on 90th to center.

    72nd Route:
    This would be a route that would run the whole stretch from 72 and sorenson to Hwy 370 in Bellevue.
Metro Bus can fill in routes that help connect all the areas together. In the meantime, we plan. Maybe Metro can start these routes now to get people use to them.
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