I'm looking at the PowerPoint slide show presented by the Urban Planning Committee of the "Bring New Orleans Back" (BNOB) Commission. I'm going to leave political comments on this to my YatPundit blog, focusing here strictly on the transit section of the presentation.
The immediate proposed plan for the city's transit system:
Longer term:
Ambitious to say the least. Here is the map for proposed light rail/commuter rail lines:
This plan would set up the following lines (directions are in New Orleans references).
St. Charles Line. No change in its current route
Canal-Elysian Fields Line. Starting at Canal Blvd. and Robert E. Lee in Lakeview, down Canal Blvd. to the Cemeteries. Down Canal Street to the river. Turn onto existing Riverfront tracks, go to Elysian Fields. Turn up Elysian Fields to UNO.
Airport Line. Starting at the foot of Canal, Up Tulane and out Airline to the Airport.
River Line. Start at Canal and the river. Up existing Riverfront line, past the Convention Center, under the CCC, and up along the river to Jackson. Turn right on Jackson to Rampart. Down Rampart past Canal, Elysian Fields, Franklin, to Poland. Right on Poland to the river, then return to the foot of Canal along the riverfront.
University of New Orleans-Claiborne-Desire Line. Start at Claiborne terminal, Claiborne and Carrollton. Down S. Carrollton to Canal, follow existing Carrollton spur to Beauregard Circle. Link up with Elysian Fields via Wisner/DeSaix/Gentilly. Turn onto Elysian Fields and go up to Lake. From UNO, down Elysian Fields to St. Claude, down St. Claude to Jackson Barracks. Return from Jackson Barracks via St. Claude to Rampart to MLK? to Claiborne. Up Claiborne to S. Carrollton.
Algiers-Gentilly Ridge Line. Starting way down on Gen DeGaulle in Algiers, go up to the CCC. Cross the river on the CCC(?!), exit onto Julia (maybe). Up Julia to Rampart, right on Rampart/St. Claude to Elysian Fields. Up Elysian Fields to Claiborne. Sort of follow I-10/Claiborne to Louisa or so, turning onto Chef Menteur. Cross the Industrial Canal at Chef Menteur and head down to Michoud.
I'm reading these routes off of what appears to be a not-very-hi-res streetmap gaphic with overlaid routes. The overlays are huge, so that they can be visible in a PowerPoint slide. In other words, this isn't the most precise first-look. I welcome comments and corrections when y'all have a look.
