High speed rail coming to a city near you?

Posted on July 07, 2010 by David Leazenby

mixed-use-high-speed-railThe US Conference of Mayors recently produced a report entitled, “The Economic Impacts of High Speed Rail on Cities and their Metropolitan Areas.” There are four cities slated to be the hub of this multi-billion dollar investment that will alter the way Americans move about regionally for both business and recreation. Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando, and Albany all represent different sized cities in different parts of the country. However, all of them are projected to benefit in similar fashion including jobs, tourism, new development, new businesses, and reduced congestion on highways and at airports. New high speed rail lines will radiate to millions of people, creating nearly 150,000 new jobs and $7.8B in new wages. By 2035 it is estimated that there will be $765M in new spending in the hub cities alone. What is the first reason the Mayor’s want the rail hub in their city? The report cites high-density, mixed-use development at train stations as the best driver of new economic activity. If the plan is implemented, the station area development alone at Albany could support 2,000 jobs; Chicago, 5,000 jobs; Orlando, 10,000 jobs; and Los Angeles, 10,000 jobs. You can see more at this High Speed Rail page from the US Conference of Mayors. You can also learn more about the vision of high speed rail in America at the Department of Transportation.

This entry was posted in Transportation and tagged mixed use, TOD, transit oriented development

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