Purpose: Connect the major cities with high speed rail
Background: Professor Lisa Schweitzer’s Urban and Mass Transit class, Move: How to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure by Rosebeth Moss Kaner, and John Kerry’s Interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakira.
Methodology
Created a map in ArcMap that consisted of major city layers and US Highways
Filtered the map to show cities that had at least 300,000 people
Geographically deduced and decided where beneficial transit stops should be located
Filtered the rest of the cities out and brought the map into Illustrator
Using the pen tool drew the route that would encompass all stations
Modified original data to include other cities that would regionally benefit areas in the United States.
Shared Attribute Table
Compared my map with US High Speed Rail Association: 21st Century Transportation for America
Future path forward consists of bringing rural areas to the table
A Planner’s Vision
Initial High Speed Rail Idea- Hitting the necessary cities
High Speed Routes Refined and established according to this planner.
Los Angeles to New York - Black Line
Stops- Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York
New York to Miami - Blue Line
Stops - New York, Philadelphia, DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami
Seattle to San Diego - Yellow Line
Stops - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego
The cities above have been added because they were deemed ones that could add High Speed Rail Stops. Ideally, every state would have a High Speed Rail stop location. Cities like Memphis, Oklahoma City, Boise, Louisville, and Birmingham, among others would be instituted later on. Attention was paid to the Highways because of terrain. The three rails added were aligned with primary interstates
Attribute Table
A fun graph indicating the population and attribute table below
The US. High Speed Rail Association’s idea for a High Speed Rail system in the United States is worth noting in comparison to my idea. It is listed below.
This chart shows how fast each mode of transportation travels
Going Forward and Conclusion
Explore different ways to link the stations to cut down on longer trips
Explore different methods rural areas could participate in these ideas.
Establishing ways this could appeal to citizens
Research terrain and current infrastructure in regards to how this system could be implemented
Connecting these HSR stations to other modes of transportation
The interesting ideas laid above consists of the fact that the United States could advance transit infrastructure. Implementing high speed transit could soothe the difficulty of people working and could advance our ability to travel from one location to another. The United States shouldn’t fall behind other countries. By establishing these techniques, America could pull forward. Below is the Bullet Train that will go from Dallas to Houston in 2020.
