Light Rail

"Opposing streetcars and light rail today would be like opposing the building of freeways, the Beltway and Metrorail in the 20th century," writes Chris Leinberger in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

November 17, 2014 - The Washington Post - Opinions

Denver’s Equity Atlas is a pioneering effort between private, public, and non-profit interests to visualize a variety of statistics for the Denver metro area.

November 9, 2014 - National Equity Atlas

After winning the contract to build All Aboard Florida's locomotives and passenger cars, Siemens Sacramento manufacturing plant landed a $648 million contract much closer to home: Replacement of the San Francisco Muni Metro Breda light rail cars.

September 23, 2014 - San Francisco Chronicle

The Southwest Corridor light-rail project appeared before the Minneapolis City Council last week, which prompted James Linbeck to write a scathing op-ed in opposition to the project.

August 28, 2014 - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Called the "biggest accomplishment" in DART's 31-year history, city leaders are hoping the new airport connection brings more international cachet along with tourists, conventions, and investments in downtown.

August 18, 2014 - The Dallas Morning News

Hot on the heals of studies about residents ditching their cars and a new complete streets ordinance, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is setting lofty goals for new transit capacity.

August 15, 2014 - AZ Central

The Austin City Council unanimously approved a $1 billion bond measure on August 7, subject to voter approval on Nov. 4 to provide $600 million toward a $1.4 billion, 9.5-mile light rail line and $400 million for freeway improvements.

August 13, 2014 - Austin American-Statesman

Jim Epstein suggests that Detroit's new light rail line is America's largest boondoggle; Matthew Yglesias argues that that ignominy belongs to Washington D.C.'s planned streetcar.

July 29, 2014 - Reason

The proposed Grand Paris Express program, which began construction this summer and is expected for completion in 2030, will serve 2 million people a day at "wildly fast speeds." Then there's light rail in the United States.

July 24, 2014 - the transport politic

In another example of Los Angeles slowly unraveling itself from prior legislation that hinder its transit goals, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will allow light rail construction in the San Fernando Valley.

July 13, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to move forward with a station near LAX, proving they'd made more progress in the last 12 months than in the previous 25 years to bring transit rail to the airport.

June 30, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

The rivalry between Dallas and Houston is well known, but Dug Begley recently made a compelling comparison between the two cities: their approach to commuter rail.

June 25, 2014 - Houston Chronicle

With two new rail lines, serving east and southeast Houston, due to open later this year, early returns have been positive for the "North Line" extension of the city's Red Line.

June 19, 2014 - Houston Chronicle

After clearing two lawsuits in February, and weathering a contentious mayoral election, the Honolulu light rail project is under construction.

May 14, 2014 - Honolulu Civil Beat

After a recent report questioned the value Portland's light rail investments, a local journalist and a TriMet representative provide countering metrics of success.

May 10, 2014 - The Oregonian

After a year of operation, Denver's 12.1-mile West Rail Line has provoked an ambivalent public response.

April 29, 2014 - The Denver Post

Robert Trigaux wonders if the Tampa Bay metro area will be wake up to the country’s changing demands of transportation and end “the parochial arm wrestling over what kind (if any) of mass transit lies in its future.”

April 22, 2014 - Tampa Bay Times

The answer to the question in the headline is “not very.” Thirty years into the initial experiment, however, light rail has not been the game changer it was hoped to be.

April 13, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Local officials agree that a light rail system from Miami to Miami Beach would work, and they have embarked on a partnership to win the funding to commence a study of a potential $532 million route.

April 4, 2014 - Miami Herald

When it comes to allowing voters to decide whether to increase local or state taxes for transportation, the most common option by far is the local or state sales tax. But what about income taxes; has it been tried before? And for public transit only?

March 28, 2014 - Nuvo