[jmecklenborg]

>If Atlanta was building transit from the start today, I bet they would be doing LRT, instead of subway.

Atlanta would *have* to do light rail. You guys are acting like this is some kind of choice, but there is no choice. The FTA has not funded heavy rail new starts since the $10 billion provided by the Urban Mass Transit Assistance Act of 1970 was exhausted. Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, Los Angeles, and the Buffalo subway LRT were all funded with this, as well as the Second Avenue subway work in New York and the Harvard - Alewife extension in Cambridge, MA.

Don't blame the cities, blame the Reagan-era cutbacks. LA and some of the mid-80's construction was still funded by the funds allocated in the 1970's. Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, etc. have had to expand one station at a time due to the underfunding of rail post-1982. If you are a city without heavy rail and you submit a heavy rail proposal to the FTA, it will be rejected. End of story.