Sunday, January 27, 2008

Article on Utah County Transit Options

Utah Valley Residents Weigh in on Transit Plans

Brandon Plewe is wrong that Utah County cannot support light rail. The area is developing rapidly and once the transit line was in place it would quickly start attracting development near it.

While Utah County is already getting a commuter rail line, a light rail line as an extension of the existing North-South line will attract different riders than the commuter rail as it has a different marketing matrix.

Plewe is right that the way University is currently designed it does not promote the use of transit. But you don't say it won't work but redesign the street to make it more pedestrian friendly. A perfect example of this would be to put in pedestrian escape zones in the center divider so people don't have to cross all the way. That is called installing effective pedestrian design. Once again our roads are designed by road builders and think about pedestrians as an after thought and this needs to change.

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