KCRag Forum

maintenance facility construction began this week in columbus park:

news - http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... nance.html

Denver-based architecture firm RNL Design Inc. designed the facility, which should be LEED Gold certified when complete. It is named after E. Crichton "Kite" Singleton, a retired Kansas City architect and a longtime public transit advocate.

photo gallery - http://www.kcstreetcar.org/images/nggallery/page/1

for those who know kite, this is very big honor after a lifetime of working to improve public transit in KC.

I was in Charlotte and Charleston the past week.

One of the days rode the entire length of the Charlotte Blue Line. there is SO MUCH new construction and construction underway in the segment near downtown (Southside I think it was called) that I couldn't keep track of it all. Along the non-park and ride part of the line is heading towards being lined with 5+ story buildings up to a block away and thousands of residential units.

If KC gets anywhere near what they are then the initial boom of construction we're seeing is going to be nothing compared to what's coming.

the more suburban segment further out? It was elevated, and separated too much from anything. There was nothing going on that you can't get with a new freeway interchange. This makes a good case for street-running and along corridors near people

the more suburban segment further out? It was elevated, and separated too much from anything. There was nothing going on that you can't get with a new freeway interchange. This makes a good case for street-running and along corridors near people

Interesting, thanks for the travel report. I have always felt that despite the calls for a regional system or commuter rail, by far the largest driver of investment will be a highly visible, accessible river-crown-plaza rail line. I do feel a connection to the Plaza/UMKC and through midtown will be necessary, however. Hoping that comes to pass this fall.

indeed. part of the friction you're seeing with streetcar is the assumption that transportation must only serve long distances quickly. that clearly hasn't served us well, as there's plenty of underutilized spaces in between the downtown core and the suburbs that connect. time to focus investment where the people are and the infrastructure that supports transit use already exists.

also, no more park and rides.

DaveKCMO wrote: also, no more park and rides.

Charlotte's worked but they did cut them off when one got closer in. simple parking option. one of the busiest Boston T stops is a major park and ride where train + bus meets. there's large parking garages right next to El stations. Minneapolis has the end of their line at what I bet is one of the largest parking garages in the country at the Mall of America, they put it below the garage on purpose I'm sure

they could work for KC where the lines enter edge suburban territory and if done as a bigger picture.

I could see one working at 32nd in NKC at the closest. it could be build as a municipal garage that NKC uses to take workers off it's streets and onto the train for local service + downtown access. they could use it in general, like with Snake Saturday. could also use the bottom level as a bus transfer point with leasable space facing 32nd, maybe a small convenience store

the same could work at NE Vivion and N. Oak with expanded bus and then train service. it's at four major routes meeting and a large garage could funnel people if there's a good solution. remember, I-29 in the northland has more cars in that area than the downtown loop, it's a major potential transit point

UMKC could replace their surface lots with more garage space and put in a more dense campus. that's what Missouri State in Springfield did, they're both landlocked colleges without taking homes

again, the thinking is that the most valuable part of a rail system is the station and the land around so why build a garage or a surface lot on it? instead, develop TOD and walkable neighborhoods. by doing so, you don't enable longer commutes (as some have complained on this board about commuter rail).

track installation in progress now on the main street viaduct north of union station.

the branding isn't wonderful, for me it's TOO abstract. but it's the type of thing that can be nitpicked to death and nothing would ever get done

it's good enough, moving on

flyingember wrote:the branding isn't wonderful, for me it's TOO abstract. but it's the type of thing that can be nitpicked to death and nothing would ever get done

it's good enough, moving on

Link?

not nitpicking, but my first impression of the branding was that it looks like an upside down robot(in the style of the android logo)

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A bar b q smoker?

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pash wrote:Ha, yes, it looks just like a bullet smoker.

That was my immediate association. I like it! haha

I think they should have made the windshield of the street car white or something else to differentiate it from the rest of the vehicle.

That icon is pretty similar (but juuuust different enough to be trademarked, presumably) to the generic DoT rail transport icon.

pash wrote:
My immediate impression was also of an upside-down robot or owl or alien or something (robotic alien owl?).

https://t.co/a7R2PkMmaL

someone took a video that has some wonderful views of downtown KCMO and they caught the streetcar work from the air at a few points

5:18-23 & 11:53-12:10 & 12:25-33

the next rail pull happens thursday morning -- 34 tons transported from 20th & walnut to install on the delaware bridge over I-70.

today there were teams working in at least five different locations along the route.

so they're not just working hard, they're working hard on the weekend.