List of US+Canada rail transit currently under construction

[Lakelander]

All Aboard Florida, the privately funded intercity rail project between Miami and Orlando, is under construction:

http://www.allaboardflorida.com/construction/updates

[202_Cyclist]

Sacramento's Blue line extension is opening today.

Blue Line starts regular service
"Sacramento Regional Transit’s long-awaited $270 million Blue Line light-rail extension to Cosumnes River College starts regular service. The Blue Line to the college will extend light rail 4.3 miles from the current terminus at Meadowview Road in south Sacramento, and will feature four new stations (Morrison Creek, Franklin, Center Parkway and Cosumnes River College). At 9 a.m., local officials will break a champagne bottle at the Meadowview station, and invited guests will ride the train south to the college. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento; Therese McMillan, the acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; and others will speak."

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article31984308.html

[Cirrus]

The Mesa extension of Phoenix's light rail opened Saturday.

I'll move Mesa and Sacto to complete, and add All Aboard FL to the construction list.

[Cirrus]

New York's #7 train extension will open on September 13.

[mrnyc]

^ around 1pm if you want to catch the first rides

[Cirrus]

Portland's 7-mile Orange line light rail opens today at 11:00 am west coast time. I've moved that project to complete on the list.

[SkahHigh]

Portland's transit system is one of the most underrated IMO.

[Cirrus]

New York's subway extension to Hudson Yards opened today, so I've moved that project from u/c to complete.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Nothing: 0 miles total

• Chicago

3 years later, this is still the case.

[colganc]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Portland's transit system is one of the most underrated IMO.

In what ways is it underrated? Living in Portland, I have my biases and only hear good things about the system.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by colganc

In what ways is it underrated? Living in Portland, I have my biases and only hear good things about the system.

You never hear about Portland's transit system yet it is quite extensive and useful. I had a class where we studied TODs around MAX stations and I never knew that Portland's system was that developed.

[Cirrus]

Maybe it's different in Canada? In the US I'd say Portland's transit system is quite overrated. Everything Portland fills planning textbooks, and the urbanist blogosphere is constantly talking about it. It's probably the number 1 most discussed US city for streetcars, #2 for bikes, easily in the top 3 or 4 for light rail, and conceivably #1. You hear about it all the time. You never hear much about its buses though.

And while it's a good system that pushes lot of boundaries, and Portland is a lovely city, it's nowhere near on a par with bigger places. Last time I looked, it had lower per capita transit ridership than Seattle. Nevermind the real transit-oriented cities like SF or Chicago.

Actually, I think that's *why* you hear about it a lot in the US. It's easy for the Denvers and Indianapolises of the world to dismiss what happens in New York or DC as outside their realm of reality. But Portland is a peer, so transit people in those cities point to Portland especially as an attainable model.

Regardless, you hear about Portland transit all the time in the US.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Maybe it's different in Canada? In the US I'd say Portland's transit system is quite overrated. Everything Portland fills planning textbooks, and the urbanist blogosphere is constantly talking about it. It's probably the number 1 most discussed US city for streetcars, #2 for bikes, easily in the top 3 or 4 for light rail, and conceivably #1. You hear about it all the time. You never hear much about its buses though.

And while it's a good system that pushes lot of boundaries, and Portland is a lovely city, it's nowhere near on a par with bigger places. Last time I looked, it had lower per capita transit ridership than Seattle. Nevermind the real transit-oriented cities like SF or Chicago.

Actually, I think that's *why* you hear about it a lot in the US. It's easy for the Denvers and Indianapolises of the world to dismiss what happens in New York or DC as outside their realm of reality. But Portland is a peer, so transit people in those cities point to Portland especially as an attainable model.

Regardless, you hear about Portland transit all the time in the US.

We have a different view in Canada I guess. We always hear about NYC, Chicago, SF, DC, Boston regarding developed transit. The reality is, more and more US cities are building extensive transit systems as of late (Houston, Denver, Charlotte).

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

more and more US cities are building extensive transit systems as of late (Houston, Denver, Charlotte).

Composed of expensive new lines all with less ridership than an average Canadian bus route.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Composed of expensive new lines all with less ridership than an average Canadian bus route.

Source?

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Composed of expensive new lines all with less ridership than an average Canadian bus route.

Not entirely true, but not entirely false either.

One of Montreal's busiest bus routes (the 435 Express) has a daily ridership of 33,000, so I think it's safe to estimate the average bus route gets between 5,000 and 10,000 riders a day... Very few U.S systems get such low numbers overall but if you look at the ridership of some lines/routes individually it can be comparable.

[Cirrus]

That comment is factually wrong, is trolling for a "versus" debate, and adds nothing to the forum. This thread is for tracking new construction, not pointless attacks. Kindly keep it that way.

If someone wants to start a "Canadian bus ridership thread," feel free. Don't hijack this one with a pissing contest.

[Cirrus]

Haha. This is embarrassing. I left an extension from my own city off the list.

DC's VRE commuter rail opens a 6-mile extension south on Monday morning. It's the one at the bottom of this image (the one on the left is not under construction yet).



I'll add it to the "completed" list, I guess.

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Isn't Honolulu considered somewhere in between Heavy and Light Rail. I was under the impression is very comparable to the Vancouver SkyTrain.

This type of categorization is frequently difficult to pin down, and varies with the location. From looking at some Google images of the Skytrain, I'd say L.A.'s LRT routes are similar; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they use some of the same rolling stock.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

This type of categorization is frequently difficult to pin down, and varies with the location. From looking at some Google images of the Skytrain, I'd say L.A.'s LRT routes are similar; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they use some of the same rolling stock.

In that case it would be rapid transit no?