BY KEITH DAVIS
What does world class public transit look like for New Orleans? This plan is one way to define that. Around the world, there are cities large and small that do some very beautiful things with their public transportation systems. Rennes, France managed to build a mostly-underground metro system with two lines and 28 stations even though their urban population is less than that of Orleans Parish. Honolulu, Hawaii, an urban area that’s slightly smaller than New Orleans, recently finished a fully-elevated driverless light metro train with more expansions on the way. It’s clear: we could have better public transportation in New Orleans, but what would that look like, and how do we get there?
The urban area of New Orleans is home to around 1 million people with tens of millions of annual visitors. If we were a city in Europe or East Asia, we would likely have at least one metro line, multiple suburban rail lines, and hundreds of intercity trains leaving and coming in everyday. If we did have these types of public services, where would they operate? Where is the most logical corridor for a metro line? What kind of infrastructure would we need to build to support that? How would such a system transform the daily life of the average New Orleanian? These are just a few of the questions I will attempt to answer throughout the life of this project.
In terms of public transit innovation, there are so many shining examples around the world that I’ve heard people say “we do things so well that there’s not much innovation left to do.” The greatest cities in the world all have transit systems that offer several different types of services for different journeys — comfortable, larger trains for longer trips; trains with lots of standing room for shorter crosstown trips; buses to get you around the neighborhood; etc.
The system I’m imagining has three major parts: cross-regional rail, cross-town metro rail, and cross-neighborhood light rail (streetcars). Buses also play a crucial role, and this plan would make use and expand upon the work already done by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) to bring Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the city. Let’s break down each of these different modes:
Metro System
The workhorse of the system is a two-line metro system that runs along two of the busiest corridors in the state. The Metro consists of 31 miles of entirely elevated track and 40 stations. This project is an enormous investment into metropolitan New Orleans, and it would have the single biggest impact of any of the propositions made in this plan. The dividends paid by the two metro lines would be enormous. Transit travel times on the two routes are cut by 35% (Metairie line) and 57% (New Orleans East line). In both cases, it would be notably faster to take the Metro instead of driving the same route during rush hour. The line running from MSY to the New Orleans CBD, which we’re dubbing the Blue Line, is probably the single most impactful piece of transit infrastructure we could build. In other words — if we could only build one of these projects, it would be the Blue Line.
The Metro will be electric and fully driverless, utilizing technology that has been in use for more than 20 years around the globe. This kind of driverless train technology made its American debut in Honolulu this year. Driverless trains that operate on fully elevated tracks will make the metro remarkably efficient, reliable, and comparatively cheap to operate once it’s built.
REGIONAL RAIL
Regional rail is a crucial service which will make transit more viable in outlying parts of the region. The service is operated using larger, faster, and more comfortable trains which stop less frequently than the Metro or light rail. Regional rail routes will operate a wider variety of service patterns, with most services terminating or running through the New Orleans CBD at Union Passenger Terminal (UPT). This kind of service can typically run at top speeds of 110 mph, making it much faster than driving in from a suburb for work, a Saints game, a parade, or anything else you might want to do in the city.
LIGHT RAIL
New Orleans is famous for its streetcars, which connect neighborhoods and act as a “walking extender” in individual districts of the city. The current vintage streetcar system falls short in a few ways, however, and one of these is that the streetcars don’t connect to a higher order, faster mode of transit (such as the Metro proposed in this plan). That is the primary purpose of the four new Light Rail lines, which will total in 25 miles of track. The system will be operated using modern light rail vehicles that many other U.S. cities have invested in over the past decade. Some track from existing streetcars can be used right away for the new light rail system.
INTERCITY RAIL
Traveling on a fast train for trips shorter than 400 miles is the most efficient and comfortable way to go from city to city. In most of the developed world, this kind of travel usually replaces short haul domestic flights. New Orleans already has decent intercity rail service when compared to other cities outside of the coastal regions of the U.S. More importantly, we have an existing station located right in the middle of town that could be used for much more train traffic than it sees today (not many U.S. cities can say this). The most logical intercity rail corridor would be made up of several different kinds of services between here and Baton Rouge — direct service (non-stop), express (stopping only at the busiest stations), and local service (stopping every few miles at smaller stations). High speed rail from New Orleans to Houston also has a lot of potential considering the two cities are less than 400 miles apart and there are already dozens of flights between here and Houston everyday. Amtrak is already planning two intercity routes from New Orleans, and ideally there could be even more new routes that connect New Orleans with multiple trains per day to cities like Memphis, Lake Charles, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and everywhere in between.
What is the first step?
I know — this plan is really asking for a lot. The region may never get all of this built, but we might get some of it. We won’t get any of it if we don’t first start talking about it. It’s important to define what is remotely possible so we as a region can be aware of what we could — and probably should — have. The most logical first step, in my opinion, is the Metro Blue Line (running from MSY to the CBD). This line would likely have the highest ridership, and it would still be useful even if nothing else ever gets built.
This is only the beginning. In the coming months, I hope to flesh out the details of this plan more and more. This plan is, firstly, something very personal to me. For the last year, this has been my creative outlet and one of the greatest joys of my life. The plan is driven by data and balanced with on-the-ground reality and my experience as a professional urban planner, but there is a lot of refining to be done. What I have not done yet is truly incorporate the input of the community, and the importance of that cannot be understated. As I continue attempting to answer questions like — What should get built first? What kind of impact would it have? Why should we support better public transit? How many people would ride this? How do we make this happen? — I also plan to listen to and incorporate the voice of the community, especially transit riders and those of us who can’t or choose not to drive.
There will be plenty of opportunities for you to get involved. The biggest thing you can do right now is spread the word. If you have friends who also want to make public transit better in New Orleans, I hope you’ll share this post with them and follow us on Instagram @nola.transit. If you’re able to, please consider making a donation as well to help kickstart some of the work I plan to do as this project (hopefully) gains some ground.
Real change takes time, but believe that it’s possible!
Leave a Reply