Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2016

[font size="1"]M-1 Rail, Detroit[/font]


[font size="1"]2nd Ave. Subway, New York[/font]


[font size="1"]El Paso Brio bus[/font]

(The Transport Politic) Cities across the country are waking up to new bus and rail lines in droves. In 2016, North American transit agencies are expected to open 245 miles of new fixed-guideway transit lines, including 89 miles of bus rapid transit, 93 miles of commuter rail, 7 miles of heavy rail, 39 miles of light rail, and 18 miles of streetcars. This is more than triple the new mileage of such lines opened in 2015.

Thanks in part to significant expenditures by national governments—such as the Urban Circulator and TIGER grants distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation—but also due to the allocation of significant new funding from cities and states to transit agencies, 2016 will be a banner year, bringing new rail and bus lines to neighborhood after neighborhood. Projects opening this year, listed in detail below but including nine bus rapid transit lines, eight streetcar routes, seven light rail lines, six commuter rail lines, and two heavy rail extensions, will have cost more than $15 billion to build.* Three of these projects—the Second Avenue Subway in New York, University Link in Seattle, and BART Warm Springs Extension outside of San Francisco—each took more than seven years to build.

In the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, projects costing a total of $70 billion and representing more than 470 miles of new, fixed-guideway transit will be under construction by the end of the year, with completion expected in the coming decade. Much more is in planning.

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The following new or expanded lines are expected to open to the public in 2016:

• Bus Rapid Transit: Arlington Virginia’s Crystal City-Potomac Yard Transitway; the Bay Area’s Alum Rock/Santa Clara BRT; Denver’s Flatiron Flyer (U.S. 36); El Paso’s Brio Alameda; Jacksonville’s First Coast Flyer Southeast Line; Las Vegas’ Flamingo Corridor; Mexico City’s Línea 6; Toronto’s Viva Highway 7 West/Vaughan; Vancouver Washington’s Vine.

• Commuter Rail: the Bay Area’s SMART Train (Phase 1); Boston’s Wachusett Extension; Denver’s A Line, B Line, and G Line; Los Angeles’ Perris Valley Line.

• Light Rail: Dallas’ South Oak Cliff Blue Line Extension; Denver’s R Line; Los Angeles’ Expo Line (Phase 2) and Gold Line Extension to Azusa; Phoenix’s Northwest Extension (Phase 1); Seattle’s University Link and South 200th Link Extension.

• Heavy Rail: the Bay Area’s BART Warm Springs Extension; New York’s Second Avenue Subway (Phase 1).

• Streetcar: Cincinnati’s Streetcar; Dallas’ Oak Cliff Streetcar Extension; Detroit’s M-1 Rail; Kansas City’s Streetcar; New Orleans’ North Rampart/St. Claude Line; St. Louis’ Loop Trolley; Seattle’s First Hill Streetcar; Washington’s H Street/Benning Road Line.
New stations: Chicago’s Washington/Wabash Station; Los Angeles’ Bob Hope Airport/Hollywood Way Station; Miami’s Central Station; New Jersey’s Westmont Station; New York’s World Trade Center Transportation Center.

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Looking ahead

One need search no further than the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel proposed to connect New Jersey and New York City to know that even after funding has been secured and construction has begun, changes in estimated costs or new political leadership threaten to derail the completion of transit expansions. In 2015, the Baltimore Red Line, a light rail project that would have run east-west through the city, fell victim to a change in gubernatorial leadership. Several of the projects noted above will also likely be cancelled in the coming months. ...............(more)

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2016/01/06/openings-and-construction-starts-planned-for-2016/