The LGA EIS has been torn to shreds already, but I just want to hone in on the reasons they chose for rejecting Alt 8B (N to LGA over 31 St and 19 Av) for one sec. They're....lol.
The formal reason for rejecting this alt is that it has the potential to disrupt infra during its construction. Specifically, the report writers are concerned about impacts to NEC service, and to sewer infrastruction.
The former line of reasoning has me perplexed. This is the detail they give on the potential impacts to the NEC, but folks, no new-build section of this route crosses the NEC! The NEC crosses the N just south of Ditmars; the new stretch of track would begin beyond it.
As for the sewer issue: the analysis cites irresolvable conflicts with sewer infra on the tunneled section, provides a list and refers the reader to Appendix E for further info. I went to Appendix E. The cited document claims *POTENTIAL* impacts! The alts analysis misconstrues!
Anyway, we all already know this process is, euh, biased, but I'm still amazed at the brazenness with which this sort of stuff is pursued.
Also, get a load of this: the EIS cites @alon_levy in a footnote which justifies their extremely high construction cost estimates and NY exceptionalism. I get that "reforming construction practices" isn't in the most narrow definition of scoping/estimating processes, but...agh!
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.@akgerber successfully goaded me into making a southwards bend, so we're making a detour down to Morgantown WV, aiming to resume normal route back at Johnstown #SEANYC
On one of these mountain-defying highways. Geographic aesthetics aside, road building really transformed the jobs geography of river towns: post-highways, industry/employment had an unprecedented ability to sprawl away from valley sites/routes.
Some of the stuff seen yesterday in McKeesport is just that: malls (and office/industrial parks) in the Mon Valley wouldn't have been nearly as possible if activity had been constrained to rail/water-proximate valley sites
These densely packed single fam houses have a strong 1940s/50s Canadian/LA suburb feel to them:
This sad looking bit of track may not look like much, but is in fact the last remnant of Milwaukee's storied Beer Line, a once-bustling industrial route through the city owned by the Milwaukee RR. We'll be loosely tracking this ROW. #SEANYC
I always love it when streetview veers into a parking lot. You get a sense for where the photo car stopped along its journey. #SEANYC
You can't really see it in this pic, but it's worth remarking on car shredding machines. They completely revolutionized car recycling by making it easier to separate component materials of old cars, helping ameliorate the issue of abandoned cars in the 70s and 80s. #SEANYC
Perhaps one of the more fascinating freight rail operations issues in the Northeast is the unending saga of Allentown and Enola, the two somewhat duplicative and inefficient Eastern PA hump yards that no one has figured out how to consolidate.
These yards, both owned by Norfolk Southern, serve a critical function insofar as they sort most carload traffic moving from the South to the Northeast, and handle most local traffic moving to points on the NS network east of the Susquehanna River.
Back along the Northern Pacific in Forsyth, MT. Coal trains, almost certainly loaded with Powder River Basin Coal, below us. #SEANYC
For those of you who are wondering, yes, this town is named after *that* Forsyth, the colonel who commanded the US Army unit involved in the Wounded Knee Massacre, where our country indiscriminately murdered 300 people. #SEANYC
Colstrip, MT. A town where -- you guessed it -- they strip mine coal. I believe Colstrip was first settled by the Northern Pacific to provide for their steam locos. They then sold the mine (called Rosebud) to Montana Power & Light, which uses it to this day. #SEANYC
I've decided I'm going to drive from Seattle to NYC on Google Streetview. Have been considering this since quarantine began, but am now finally biting the bullet. Trying to get in 30-60 mins a day until I reach. Will post periodic updates here. Here's my starting point:
New rule: I will not drive on the correct side of the interstate...ever, if I can avoid it.
One of my highway design pet peeves: exits to nowhere _with duplicates_! Not that this is a Q that is seen as meriting an answer in general, but why do you need the exit in the black box when its connectivity is duplicated just to the east and west & it barely touches anything!?