The wondrous promise of light rail
From this morning's Birmingham News a cheery story, about how we waste money studying solutions to non-existent problems, all while promoting the panacea of light rail. (Collective "oooooooooooh" from the audience, please)

Ginny McDonald
News staff writer

An $88 million tunnel through Red Mountain from Southside to Homewood is part of a mass transit proposal for the Birmingham metro area.

Rails would be laid through the tunnel running from downtown Birmingham to 19th Street in Homewood for electric commuter trains or buses capable of using rails or roads.

The mass transit vehicles would then connect with rail lines along U.S. 280 and U.S. 31, said Steve Ortmann, senior project manager with New York-based STV Inc.

Ortmann's company is doing a $2.5 million study that is recommending 14 proposed types of mass transportation for five major corridors in Jefferson and Shelby counties.

A location for the Southside end of the tunnel has not been determined.

"We don't have an exact alignment yet. We need to know what buildings we need to miss. But the idea is to come out as close as possible to 20th Street South and University (Boulevard)," Ortmann said. [...]

Ortmann said the tunnel is not a far-fetched idea for light rail.

"We can do the tunnel for the same amount of money it would take to go to the top of the mountain," he said. "Our estimates show it would cost $88 million for about a mile of tunnel. It's two miles if we go over the top of the mountain and would cost about $40 million a mile."

One drawback to going over the mountain, Ortmann said, is that it's difficult for light rail to go up a slope that is more than 10 degrees. "It doesn't have the power required to get up there," Ortmann said.

The tunnel would be used by buses and electric trains going to U.S. 280 and U.S. 31, but not light rail vehicles proposed for Green Springs Highway.

The study is not the first to be done on tunneling through Red Mountain. In 1959 a group proposed a toll tunnel through the mountain if the Birmingham City Commission would grant an operation franchise. But a feasibility study done in 1960 found the tunnel would be too costly.

Instead, the state built the Red Mountain Expressway, which was later renamed the Elton B. Stephens Expressway. The 210-foot cut through Red Mountain for the expressway was the deepest in the history of road construction in the state. The expressway opened in 1970. [...]

Yep, $88 million is a bargain alright. Such are the ways of government consultants in which $88 million per mile is the same as $40 million per mile and is somehow better than $0 per mile for using the infrastructure already in place, simply because the infrastructure in place cannot accomodate light rail, which will require investing $88 million dollars because it is better than no light rail, and we know it's better because we are paying $2.5 million to a company that says it's better.

The Red Mountain Expressway (although the article makes it seem as though the project only took ten years) actually was not finished until the mid-1980s, and for most of its construction time in the 1960s was not open to traffic. By the time the Red Mountain Glory Hole is finished in twice the amount of time (I'm being charitable here--no one seems to factor in politics, funding, and federal regulations), the next big thing in transportation will have long arrived, and everyone will be looking for scapegoats to blame for spending up all of our dough. Yes, it's doable. Just like in 1960, when transit ridership in Birmingham was at its high point, when city coffers were full, when suburban governments were small and weak, when citizen activism meant being on hand for the ribbon cutting, and when the EPA was still just a gleam in some Washington wonk's eye. It was doable then, but even then, with all of the cards stacked for it, it STILL made no economic sense to go ahead with it.

What a stupid waste of money.

Look for it to be supported wholeheartedly by the folks in charge.

[Further Comment] Mac Thomason wrote me a quick note:

An $88 million tunnel (how much is that in American dollars?) to connect Southside and Homewood? I figured you'd have something to say about this, and you said most of it, but I have to post something.

You remember that "Simpsons" episode with the monorail? I'm keeping an eye out for Leonard Nimoy.

Yes, for $88 mil, me love you long, G.I. For Mac's take on this silliness, click here. (Also just updated with a link to a photograph of Lyle Lanley, an ACTUAL MONORAIL SALESMAN and the lyrics to "Monorail!")
posted by Terry at 9:05:00 AM