High Speed Rail: A No-Brainer

[thelakelander]

You think they are in favor of placing their HSR rail station at the school site instead of something closer to town?

[tufsu1]

don't know about the HSR station...but they did like the USF/town center project.

plus,a stop there may make more sense than Kathleen Rd...although US 98 was always my preference

[FayeforCure]

Stephen, I mentioned this yesterday...and you scoffed at it as a valid industry

Yeah, pretty ironic really.........To have this magnificent opening taking place the very next day. The title of my e-mail was "tufsu1 was right."

tufsu1, since I don't want to post here much ( don't have the time to engage in endless discussion), can you e-mail me your e-mail address so I can keep in touch?

BTW, they are now trying to trick Sunrail (which is a commuter rail project and therefor doesn't qualify for HSR funds) into the HSR application!!

[JeffreyS]

I get the feeling the supporting Trirail is going to be important also when the feds consider sending transit money our way.

[CS Foltz]

Kids.........I am confused for sure. Sunrail and HSR are two different modes of mass transit! The only common denominator is ...........moving people! But that is in two completely different ways.........one is a local start and stop system for urban people moving and the other is longer range people moving. I have no problem with either but to tie one to the other seems kinda narrow minded to me. If both can be funded from the 7.8 Billion Dollar grant .....great.....but I think that both would suffer over the long term with a lack of funding to be properly outfitted and operated!

[thelakelander]

The common denominator is the State of Florida.  If the State won't financially support our one existing commuter rail line and the proposed one in Orlando, then why should the feds give us additional money for any form a rail?  Its time for Florida to implement and finanically support rail instead of only talking and studying.

[Ocklawaha]

Lake, Stephen, agreed, Florida is at the bottom of all of these fail-rail projects, and it's the same old chase a rainbow philosophy that we have seen throughout the expressway era.

Our sometimes resident foamer for HSR, doesn't care one wit about doing it right, just so long as it carries elections, and allows for playing with $2 Billion in "free" money. The day the Skyway opened, I bet every politician in town was there for the photo opportunity. When it fell flat on it's face every one of them was suddenly in my camp, "We knew it was a bad idea..." Yeah, right. In other words there ARE politicians who would readily cash in our states transportation future, and flame a couple of Billion in the process, as long as we love them enough to keep electing them.

If Faye, and other glory blind HSR seekers gets elected, it's just going to usher in a new generation of bobble head thinkers.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

Gentlemen..............I concur!

[tufsu1]

Actually, I scoffed at the idea of it being located at the airport or along the HSR line.

And apparently it isnt.  Unless Daytona is located differently from the last time I was there.

TUFSU, if im not sure about something or if new data comes up that challenges my thoughts, I do not have a problem asking.  I also don't mind changing my mind.  Facts are more important than my feelings about them.

well ok then...Lake Nona is about 60 miles from Daytona...and adjacent to the OIA property.

[thelakelander]

Stephen, Lake Nona is a couple of miles SE of Orlando's airport (a very large property) along the Central Florida GreeneWay.  However, it really has nothing to do with HSR or Sunrail.  You'll need to take a rubber wheeled mode of transportation to get to either one from Lake Nona.  You can read more about it at: www.learnlakenona.com

[thelakelander]

From Lake Nona, you would need to catch a taxi to Orlando's airport (until a bus route is in place) and drop $30 on a one way ticket.  The other clusters would be:

1. International Drive

Theme park central with lots of service jobs.  Unfortunately, hotel, restaurant and retail employees probably can't afford the HSR fare.

2. Disney

Disney employees get paid pennies to, so they won't be using the train daily.  If Disney shuts down their magical bus, HSR would be a decent connection to Disney.  Unfortunately, for the train, its hard to imagine Disney shutting their system or Disney tourist avoiding the free service to pay for the train trip.

3. Lakeland

The station location is still in the air.  If its located at the proposed USF Poly campus, it would serve the school and potential companies willing to locate to the Williams DRI site.  However, it would also be isolated from the actual living population and developed center of Lakeland and Polk County's other cities.

4. DT Tampa

Outside of tourism, this would be HSR's center of business activity.  However, those in DT Tampa are more likely to be heading to Tampa's airport and West Shore than to Disney World, International Drive or Orlando's airport.

[CS Foltz]

This is looking more and more like a boondoggle guys!

[thelakelander]

so the HSR wouldnt connect the Lake Nona cluster to any other biotech cluster in the state?

hmm.  this is beginning to sound like the worst argument in favor of something since the invention of castor oil.

Not directly.  It will connect to HSR just as much as our Amshack station connects to DT Jax.  You'll need to either bum a ride, catch a bus or get a taxi to get to the nearest HSR station at the airport.  Walking is not an option because there are no sidewalks to the airport and the roads are set up like a circular expressway.  I'll try to upload a few aerials tomorrow.

[tufsu1]

so the HSR wouldnt connect the Lake Nona cluster to any other biotech cluster in the state?

hmm.  this is beginning to sound like the worst argument in favor of something since the invention of castor oil.

why would connecting two biotech centers be the only measure of potential?

Wouldn't connecting the UCF medical campus with the USF polytechnic campus be worthwhile...or what about connections to either to/from downtown Tampa.

No system works without connections...for example, interstates don't take people where they need to be...it requires connecting to a local street system....almost all transit would be the same way!

[tufsu1]

you and I just read the article differently...

The article said HSR could be used to connect centers of industry....we differ on 3 things regarding that statement -

1. Centers of industry does not mean just industrial
2. The centers of industry don't have to be the same types of industry
3. The connection doesn't have to be direct...just that HSR help facilitate the connection