Let’s see how much they can get built in 30 years, especially the light rail. Their Streetcar was a total failure, and their density is far less than Kansas City or Omaha. My assumption is the light rail will be the first to get cut from the plan on the basis of cost. Even Austin can’t build their own light rail line.StlAlex wrote: ↑12:17 AM - Todayhttps://www.onetransit.org/
We live in a world where OKC has better transit plans than St. Louis.
- 559
OKC is not dense. It is sprawling and is probably even more car-centric than St. Louis. Public transit of this type will be a heavy lift, and I say that with sadness because it is my hometown and I am an advocate for such things. But reality is what it is. Pretty much the whole metro area with a tiny exception was built post-1920.
Having written that, I keep up with the pulse down there and expanded transit has a shot. The area is growing fairly rapidly and is starting to experience real traffic congestion. I saw this last month when I was home for a week - things are just more crowded in a way they didn't use to be and there is growing frustration with the building of turnpikes, which has been the way around funding problems. There is also the general civic attitude of "We are turning into a big city and we need to embrace things that big cities have and we need to get ahead of it before we really need it." OKC has many faults but planning ahead is actually something they do pretty well. As I have written before, there are also fewer municipalities and stakeholders, although there will be a fight between the city interests and certain (not all) of the suburbs.
I think the OKC of today is about where Kansas City was when I was in college (I am 50) and probably where St. Louis was when my parents were in college (they are 80). So there you have it. Plan ahead, long term. We'll see.
Having written that, I keep up with the pulse down there and expanded transit has a shot. The area is growing fairly rapidly and is starting to experience real traffic congestion. I saw this last month when I was home for a week - things are just more crowded in a way they didn't use to be and there is growing frustration with the building of turnpikes, which has been the way around funding problems. There is also the general civic attitude of "We are turning into a big city and we need to embrace things that big cities have and we need to get ahead of it before we really need it." OKC has many faults but planning ahead is actually something they do pretty well. As I have written before, there are also fewer municipalities and stakeholders, although there will be a fight between the city interests and certain (not all) of the suburbs.
I think the OKC of today is about where Kansas City was when I was in college (I am 50) and probably where St. Louis was when my parents were in college (they are 80). So there you have it. Plan ahead, long term. We'll see.
