Regional and Urban Design Committee

Are Light Rail Tunnels Really Boondoggles?

  • 1.  Are Light Rail Tunnels Really Boondoggles?

    Posted 07-23-2015 11:40 AM
    This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on the Environment and Regional and Urban Design Committee .
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    Are Light Rail Tunnels Really Cost Prohibitive? 



    Maybe it was the gigantic tunnel boring machine that over-ate itself with fine granulate until it's boring head had to be rescued in a big open dig in the middle of Seattle. May be it was the infamous Big Dig in Boston with its perennial delays and cost overruns. Or is it that almost any topic elicits antagonistic views split along party lines. Whatever the cause, many Americans seem to buy the argument that tunnels are boondoggles. Being against transit tunnels is sold as prudent reasoning even where hardly any alternative exists, like the case of the rail tunnel under the Hudson River. In Baltimore, a proposed light rail tunnel was declared the flaw that sank the cities first and only major transit project in nearly a quarter century.

    Meanwhile the Swiss  successfully completed  a  34-mile long rail tunnel under the Alps in which trains will begin to run next year and the Japanese build the world's first long distance Maglev high speed rail, much of it in tunnel.  Why is an American Transit tunnel a "fatal flaw"?

    Granted, tunnel construction is a pretty specialized field and much of it occurs out of sight, which is the whole point, of course. So maybe a closer look... Read all


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    Klaus Philipsen FAIA
    Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
    Baltimore MD
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