ITS SPRING !!

On May 5, 3:59*pm, datakoll wrote:
http://www.railstotrails.org/newsand...nth/index.html


MuHAHaHAhAhah;

Its California! -
http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov/ipix/virtual_bay_trail.html


TBerk
damn'd near Springtime all the time here...

Jobst Brandt wrote:

Chalo Colina wrote:

Jobst Brandt wrote:

These rights-of-way were laid out when this was all open space. Today
transit corridors have been demolished and converted to private
property and public trails. Historically no trail has been take back
for badly needed transit and long distance travel by rail.
This is common all over the USA and in the SF area disrupted RR ROW
lie dormant or converted all over. I would prefer putting in transit
and a bike path parallel to it.

Don't worry too much about it-- it won't be long until there is far
more Interstate and US Highway right-of-way than we have a practical
use for. Running rail down the middle will redeem some of the
overcapacity and make good use of all those over- and underpasses in
the process.

That's an awful place to put rail corridors although it has been done
for rapid transit in many places. The stations are hard to reach and
people shy away from going out there in the netherworld of whizzing
cars and trucks.

My point is that the same conditions that will soon stimulate renewed
demand for rail infrastructure will also mean fewer cars, fewer
trucks, and a whole lot less whizzing.

Chalo

On 06 May 2008 03:26:54 GMT, wrote:

Don't worry too much about it-- it won't be long until there is far
more Interstate and US Highway right-of-way than we have a practical
use for. Running rail down the middle will redeem some of the
overcapacity and make good use of all those over- and underpasses in
the process.

That's an awful place to put rail corridors although it has been done
for rapid transit in many places. The stations are hard to reach and
people shy away from going out there in the netherworld of whizzing
cars and trucks.

I think his point is that before long, there will no longer *be* all
those whizzing cars and trucks.

Andrew Price wrote:

Don't worry too much about it-- it won't be long until there is
far more Interstate and US Highway right-of-way than we have a
practical use for. Running rail down the middle will redeem some
of the overcapacity and make good use of all those over- and
underpasses in the process.

That's an awful place to put rail corridors although it has been
done for rapid transit in many places. The stations are hard to
reach and people shy away from going out there in the netherworld
of whizzing cars and trucks.

I think his point is that before long, there will no longer *be* all
those whizzing cars and trucks.

Just the same, the center of a freeway is a hostile no-man's land.
That may be a good wish, but I don't see it coming, having watched
such events come and go. When we had gasoline rationing during WWII
rail lines were being abandoned in this area and converted to other
non-recoverable uses. The last CEO of Southern Pacific abandoned
lines left and right before the show was over.

Today, SF has no rail freight service any more because the huge
Bayshore yard and locomotive shops are gone. All freight traffic
comes to SF from Oakland and is trucked over the Bay Bridge into town.
The stupid part of that is the need for a new version of the 10-lane
bridge arises from east ramp that is so steep that fully loaded
trucks, once stopped by traffic back-up cannot get out of second gear
and cause huge daily traffic jams "on the incline".

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/

This bridge is not being built:

http://bridgepros.com/projects/Bay_Bridge/index.htm

With no funds for our decaying republican roads with pot holes that
destroy rims on cars, there is no money for this construction project
so Arnoldt (the Terminator) is taking it from school funding.

The new bridge, being built parallel to the old, starts its ramp far
enough back to have a lesser gradient... but it cannot have more than
5-lanes in each direction like the old one because the tunnel through
YBI and the west suspension bridge have 5+5 lanes (upper and lower
decks). To cover for this construction boondoggle, constant reference
to the seismically damaged bridge is made... a bridge that has no load
or speed restrictions since 1989 when a piece of concrete decking
broke in the earthquake.

The Dumbarton rail bridge has been closed since Southern Pacific went
under and no trains, passenger or freight, can get to SF that way, the
way most freight arrived from the container yards in Oakland, southern
CA and the east. Citizens committees oppose re-opening the bridge and
a vigilante group burned the wooden trestle west (1/4 mile) end of its
approach trestle to the water.

All cities between Redwood City (Dumbarton line) and SF oppose high
speed rail to SF. That's where we are in the USA.

Jobst Brandt

Rails to trails

Weeds are growing where Bayshore Yard and the locomotive and car shops
were. There is no plan to improve freight traffic to the "City" while
billions are being appropriated for bridge and freeway projects for
commuters in cars.

Then:

http://terraserver-usa.com/image.asp...690&Y=5216&W=3

Now:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/San+Francisco+ca+94108/

Jobst Brandt

wrote:

The stupid part of that is the need for a new version of the 10-lane
bridge arises from east ramp that is so steep that fully loaded
trucks, once stopped by traffic back-up cannot get out of second gear
and cause huge daily traffic jams "on the incline".

wow

incredible

wrote:

The stupid part of that is the need for a new version of the
10-lane bridge arises from east ramp that is so steep that fully
loaded trucks, once stopped by traffic back-up cannot get out of
second gear and cause huge daily traffic jams "on the incline".

wow

incredible

Well the incredible part is that the change in gradient could be
achieved at lee than 1/10 the cost by making more steel bridge
trusses, that serve so well, to lengthen the ramp and then jack it up
on new steel piers. Steel piers that withstand earthquakes as was
discovered but not recognized in 1989 when the steel structures
received no damage and the concrete one fell.

Oops! Steel is out, carbon fiber is in!

Just look at the "new bridge" with focus on earthquake stability. It
isn't there!

Jobst Brandt

Chalo wrote:
Jobst Brandt wrote:

Chalo Colina wrote:

Jobst Brandt wrote:

These rights-of-way were laid out when this was all open space. Today
transit corridors have been demolished and converted to private
property and public trails. Historically no trail has been take back
for badly needed transit and long distance travel by rail.
This is common all over the USA and in the SF area disrupted RR ROW
lie dormant or converted all over. I would prefer putting in transit
and a bike path parallel to it.

Don't worry too much about it-- it won't be long until there is far
more Interstate and US Highway right-of-way than we have a practical
use for. Running rail down the middle will redeem some of the
overcapacity and make good use of all those over- and underpasses in
the process.

That's an awful place to put rail corridors although it has been done
for rapid transit in many places. The stations are hard to reach and
people shy away from going out there in the netherworld of whizzing
cars and trucks.


My point is that the same conditions that will soon stimulate renewed
demand for rail infrastructure will also mean fewer cars, fewer
trucks, and a whole lot less whizzing.

Chalo

If today was any indication, the W&OD trail is waaaaaay to popular to
ever go back to rail, even if it hadn't been crossed by many roads in an
apparently irreversible manner (at least not without many grade
crossings) - it's a little too popular to even keep a good pace on a
bike. I'm going to have to start riding later I think; I left the house
at about 6:30 and it certainly wasn't a relaxing ride, I was constantly
planning my moves to safely pass all the walkers, joggers and slow
cyclists without cutting off any of the jersey and aero bar crowd.

Oh, and my plan to go for a nice "easy, relaxing ride" went right out
the window the first time I got passed by an old guy Felt good
anyway, at least until I got a faceful of skeeters next to a creek...

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On May 6, 12:10*pm, wrote:

Just the same, the center of a freeway is a hostile no-man's land.
Too, too true.
The spot where my bike and I were smeared by a massive pickup truck
was less than a block from a light rail station...hard by the 85/87
interchange where the "Bike Path" spits you into the gauntlet where I
was struck, and pedestrians routinely put their lives into the hands
of drivers. As the fire dept paras were sopping up my blood a group
of developmentally disabled young adults crossed at the same light.
"Sheesh..." I thought, "it could have been them."

Brimming with good cheer,
ABS

aka Jobst Brandt wrote:
...
Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific, (Milwaukee Road), a fallen flag...

Three decades after the main yard closed, the vacant land is finally
being redeveloped.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful