Word: transition
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...Federal Government has funded $300 million of the project's $310 million capital costs, thanks in large measure to the lobbying efforts of Neil Goldschmidt, former Portland mayor and Secretary of Transportation under President Carter. Despite Washington's munificence, Portland, with an unpopular mass-transit tax on employers and a noisy constituency of diehard automobile fans, has taken pains to economize: once they leave downtown, the trains will speed along an existing right-of-way parallel to the humming Banfield Freeway...
...transit projects are on track, however. The initial elevenmile stretch of Metrorail, Miami's elevated railway, was scheduled to open in time to whisk Christmas shoppers to downtown Miami. Now the big day has been postponed until spring. Two federal investigative teams turned up substandard construction work in the nearly $1 billion system, which is almost 70% funded by Washington. Because of a lengthy strike at the supplier, the Budd Co., only 20 of Metrorail's planned fleet of 136 cars are ready for service. "We're not going to accept this thing until...
...automobile-dominated West, seven major transit systems are planned or proposed. Among the most ambitious cities: Los Angeles, which plans to break ground before the Summer Olympics for an 18-mile, $3.3 billion subway that will follow the densely built, heavily trafficked Wilshire Boulevard corridor, cut through Hollywood and end up hi the San Fernando Valley. The underground will be the centerpiece of an eventual 160-mile network, second in size in the U.S. only to New York City's. Supporters see the rail plan as the last best hope for unclogging the city's fabled 715-mile...
Even humming Silicon Valley is planning a new transit system. This spring, Santa Clara County will begin construction of 20 miles of light rail and twelve miles of new freeway. The project's $382 million price tag is modest by mass-transit standards, in part because the system does not strive to be as high-tech as the computer culture it will serve. Says Susan Wilson, chairwoman of the Santa Clara County Transit District: "We're looking for a good Chevrolet, not a Cadillac...
Indeed, concern for function over form is advisable. The federal gravy train is slowing down. The Reagan Administration, which is cool to mass transit, initially declared a ban on funding for new rail systems and sought to phase out operating assistance by 1985. Pork-barrel-hungry Congressmen, however, objected to both moves. With the passage of the 5?-per-gal. gasoline tax, and its one penny for mass transit, the Administration agreed to lift the ban. But Reagan did persuade Congress to whittle operating subsidies by 21%, and in this fiscal year alone won an overall $400 million...