Have you seen the new series in the Post and Courier this week? It’s called “The Great Train Debate” and it addresses, naturally, the question of light rail in Charleston, as opposed to widening I-26. (Has anyone else ever noticed that by the time the road widening is finished, it almost always needs to be widened again? My most notable example of this is the horrendous Woodruff Rd. in Greenville, SC. Now that Greenville has come so far with its downtown area, I’m hopeful that Woodruff Rd. will soon be improved as well. You can check out the city’s traffic study of the area here.) Look at Atlanta: Peachtree Road in some places is what, 8 lanes wide? And it comes as no surprise that it’s still abominably congested nearly all the time.

There’s no question that a light rail system is expensive to create; however, with gas prices looking the way they do, it seems pretty certain that public transportation ridership will only increase in the next few years. Charlotte’s LYNX system has enjoyed great success in the eight months that it’s been operating, exceeding ridership predictions from the start. And I, for one, would gladly never drive my car again if I could.

We’ll be keeping an eye on how this debate goes - if Charleston’s able to find a dependable funding source, light rail just might work out. And if it does, Mixson residents, you’ll all have yet another reason to love your homes: you’ll be located near a very good site for a rail station. We thought about this, you see.

Filed under: Charleston SC Green Living, I'On Group, Urban Sustainability on July 10th, 2008