What I said is that a subway will encourage LA's density to increase. In fact, that was one of the reasons Manhattan became so dense.....the development of subways.
Quite the contrary. Subways were the solution to the crowded streets due to dense population. The subway only opened around 1904 and as has been discussed, Manhattan's residential population density peaked around 1910.
Uh......what I should have said was the all embracing mass transit encourages density. The first subway line opened in 1904 but rail lines on elevated structures had been operating in NYC for 3 or more decades. The city went underground for a number of reasons but it was the original construction of elevated mass transit that caused densities to increase particularly around stations:
"The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, almost 35 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line. The oldest structure still in use today opened in 1885 as part of the Lexington Avenue Line, and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn. The oldest right-of-way, that of the BMT West End Line, was in use in 1863 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road. The Staten Island Railway, which opened in 1860, currently utilizes R44 subway cars, but it has no links to the rest of the system and is not usually considered part of the subway proper."
en.wikipedia.org
"Mass transit equal mass investment
Mass transit doesn't necessarily need New York City-style density to thrive, but it helps create that type of cosmopolitan vibrancy. Transit, like light rail, usually attracts millions of dollar in investment in the surrounding area, increasing both commercial and residential development. This in turn raises property values and creates synergies in the local communities.
Examples of this type of phenomena abound. Metro Los Angles' San Fernando Valley, a stereotypical sprawling community if there ever was one, is seeing development move from suburban-style spawl to denser, downtown-type development because of a newly created mass transit line there. Millions more dollars are being invested, including million-dollar condos, along Minneapolis' newly constructed Hiawatha light rail line.
"Transit can make that happen," says Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, a Metro Detroit mass transit advocacy non-profit. "We’re not going to have a thriving downtown if every other building is a parking structure.""
metromodemedia.com |
