Re: [Fwd: BRISBANE LIGHT RAIL / TRAMS]

[billbolton@REMOVE-TO-EMAIL.acslink.net.au (Bill Bolton)]

On 7 Dec 1997 21:02:18 GMT, crookesp@aol.com (Crookesp) wrote:

>But what makes Brisbane so different from all the other
>cities worldwide that run trams in narrow streets?

Most cities that still runs trams in narrow streets have comprehensive
traffic management plans that keep the trams well separated from other
traffic.

There is plenty of evidence from recent LRT installations that
attempting to fit new tram systems into congested traffic patterns
just doesn't work.  Sheffield probably has some of the best examples
of this.   

>Are these streets that have no public transport? No trucks? 

Traffic patterns today are very different from even 10 years ago, let
alone the nearly 30 years since trams last ran in Brisbane.  The areas
that seem to be the ones that Gary keep throwing up as objections
regarding clearances now carry traffic flows to major traffic
destinations that hardly existed in the 60s, such as the airport.

In any case, its not at all clear why it would be necessary to operate
a new light rail system "trams" through the former Valley Junction as
there seem to be just as workable alternative routings close by which
could avoid many of the problems in the first place. 

>Or are we falling prey to the usual argument about trams, that
>they will not today fit into streets on which they successfully ran
>for fifty years?

Whether there is any argument at all, depends a great deal on how you
define "successfully".

The more closely I look at the latest Brisbane proposal, the more its
seems like something which in many small way has almost deliberately
set up to be unworkable... politics in Queensland is a strange beast,
so I wont event try to speculate as to why that may be so.

Cheers,

Bill

Bill Bolton
Sydney, Australia