(3 of 6)
In many cities where rail systems are still under construction, however, an all-aboard enthusiasm prevails. Indeed, a radio producer in Pittsburgh ran into a major problem last November when he tried to hold an on-air debate on that city's rail-building and -refurbishing project: he could not find anyone opposed to it. By next Thanksgiving, the first of the system's fleet of light-rail cars is scheduled to start rumbling along a 1.1-mile run under the center city; a 9.4-mile aboveground segment connecting downtown to Pittsburgh's South Hills suburbs is expected to open in 1985. So far, local taxpayers have escaped all but 3% of the estimated $480 million in costs; the state and the Federal Government are picking up the rest. Says James Maloney, former executive director of the Port Authority Transit of Allegheny County: "We expect people to convert to public transit for the first time in their lives."
Buffalo also hopes to lure new riders with its 6.4-mile Light Rail Rapid Transit (LRRT) system, an unconventional marriage of streetcar and subway technologies that is costing $500 million from state and federal treasuries. The initial 1.2-mile street-level segment, scheduled to open some time this year, will cut through a ten-block-long mall in the city's central commercial district that will be closed to most other traffic. Trips within the transit mall will be free, giving shoppers an incentive to patronize downtown businesses.
Relying on updated versions of traditional trolleys is not limited to older cities. In Oregon, Portland's 15-mile light-rail line linking the city's downtown core to the fast-growing suburb of Gresham is expected to be ready for riding in 1985. The 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.