WALKWAY OVER
THE HUDSON
-or-
THE MOST COLOSSAL, INANE
WASTE OF MONEY I HAVE EVER SEEN*
28
May 2008, by Pirate Joe
“Nothing
can stop a stupid idea whose time has come”- Pirate Joe’s sixth
law.
I
heard the news today, oh boy....
Yup, here on my own radio station. Hank Gross
reported federal and county elected officials (and others) gleefully
pulling up spikes on the remaining track of the Poughkeepsie railroad
bridge, as a symbolic beginning of it’s conversion into a rail- trail-
walkway. Scenic Hudson, ( an organisation I cherish and respect)
announced a 1 million dollar contribution to the effort, bringing
Walkway Over The Hudson to within $9 million of it’s goal. According to
the report, $14 million has been raised. Simple math tells us that this
project has a total cost of $23 million dollars.
That's twenty-three MILLION dollars, folks. Let that
sink in for a
few seconds. Twenty-three million dollars for a primrose path over the
Hudson River plus a few kilometers of trail. Twenty-three MILLION
dollars for a hiking path where folks can walk their dogs and count
butterflies. Twenty-three million dollars. I have seen idiotic wastes
of money in my lifetime, (Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere” comes to mind,
albeit on a much larger scale), but for the Hudson Valley, this just
might be the most hair-brained, profligate waste of money and
infrastructure yet. Is this the best use to which these resources
could be put? I for one, emphatically say no. Is there a better idea?
Yes. Convert it back to a railroad.
He
blew his mind out in a car,
He didn’t know the price of gas had
changed....
The rights-of-ways connected to the Poughkeepsie
railroad bridge could (if restored) establish rail connexions not
only to New Paltz, but also to Stewart Airport directly from the Metro
North Poughkeepsie railroad station. With gas already past
$4/gallon, and greedy futures traders and oil companies drooling at $5
and beyond, has anyone
realised that restoring our railroad infrastructure is not only the
right thing to do for the economy
but for the environment,
too? Not too long ago, you could take a train from almost any
micro-town in the U.S.A. to almost any other. After World War II and up
into the 1970's we enthusiastically destroyed the stations, tracks,
bridges and other aspects of this vast, efficient infrastructure as we
rejoiced in the automobile. As a child, I couldn’t understand this. I
would ask myself, “can’t these idiots see that we might need this again
someday”? Don't look at your calender now, but “someday” is here.
Railroads were, and still are, the most efficient
(non-marine) transportation system known to man, and by a wide margin,
too. Although it might not be immediately obvious, railroad
infrastructure is quite unique in a couple of significant
aspects: 1. they need to maintain a grade of 3% (three units of
measurement height gain for every 100 units of measurement forward
travel) or lower. 2. You can’t have tight curves. These are
qualities that make a railroad right-of-way a more valuable
resource then it might otherwise appear, and it's use as a walkway such
a blatant squandering of that resource. Useable railroad routes are
difficult to find and lay out. Hiking trails are not nearly so
difficult (read expensive) to build, since grades of even beyond 20%
and sharp 90 degree bends are quite acceptable. Just for the record, I
am absolutely NOT anti-hiking/biking trail. I believe that they should
be incorporated in the design of all new developments and
re-developments, and built in other areas where possible. Just not on
valuable railroad rights-of-ways. Yes, the walkway is a “nice” idea,
but is it “nice” enough that we should forgo another big alternative to
$10/gal gas rape?
Cut to 2008. Gas prices are soaring and right now,
people are looking for public transportation options. They want to
drive less; (and) when they look for the railroads their fathers
and
grandfathers used, they find butterfly paths instead.
It costs approximately $300,000 to $600,000 for a
kilometer of railroad track, (about $500,000 to $ 1 million
dollars a mile) Simple math again tells us that $23 million could
build approximately 37 to74 km (23 to 46 miles ) of track. It would
take about 48 km (30 miles) of track to reach Stewart Airport, and
about 16 (10 mi) to reach New Paltz. Just ask yourself: how much less
driving could these two links provide? How much would Poughkeepsie
benefit from being an easy gateway to Stewart? How many new jobs would
be created? It’s a “no-brainer”
folks.
When if comes to earning a living, going to work is
not an option. The much-heralded 1980's age of tele-commuting never
came. If there is no public transportation, you drive. Inefficient,
noisy, pollution-belching buses are not the answer. Nor is more
highways. Nor is an entire nation being raped by $10 gas. While the
price of gas may level off a little from whatever peak it ultimately
hits, make no mistake: it’s going to remain expensive for quite awhile,
and forever if we do nothing. Fast, efficient railroads are a big part
of the answer. So what are we doing about it, here in the Hudson
Valley? Why, we’re transforming the Poughkeepsie railroad bridge and
it’s connecting rights-of-ways into butterfly paths. Talk about
Nero...Especially in times such as these, I can’t conceive of a more
idoitic idea.
P.S. Isn't there already a "walkway" on the Mid-Hudson bridge? It sure
looks like one.
*in the Hudson Valley
-30-