RT @travis_robert: I am becoming rapid-fire radicalized against all these “rails to trails” projects. An intact rail right-of-way is exceedingly precious and every single one should be restored to RAIL
@capntransit@travis_robert there is one former rail ROW in my city that would make no sense for rail ops but it would be a fabulous bike connection (allowing to climb to a plateau without any steep grades), but without some serious commitment to bike transport infra by govt & municipality (making it worthy to eminent-domain two houses and build a street overpass where a rail one once was), that's not going to happen.
@djasa@travis_robert David, wasn't it you who said about another line that it "made no sense for rail ops"? I think at this point it's pretty clear how subjective and relative that judgment is.
@capntransit@travis_robert The Seine promenade is a famous success of a road-to-trail project. They should do more of these where appropriate. Can you think of other good examples? There's the road tunnel around Grand Central, I guess...
@Alon@capntransit@travis_robert Here there’s a trail (Freedom Park) that runs on land that was cleared for a highway but the highway was never built. I assume you want actual pavement removal tho?
@Colinvparker@capntransit@travis_robert Yes, but this is nice too. (Boston took land that was cleared for a never-built freeway and put the Orange Line in it, moving it away from black Roxbury and toward white Jamaica Plain. Roxbury got a BRT line, the Silver Line, which local activists call the Silver Lie for how slow it is.)
@Alon@Colinvparker@travis_robert And there are many abandoned carriage roads in New York state parks, some built for recreational rides, others for logging, mining or even evacuated villages:
@Alon@capntransit@travis_robert JFK promenade in Golden Gate Park is our best recent local example. Also the old Devil's Slide (hwy 1) trail, if you're thinking more wildernessy
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