Cities Proceed With Their Light-rail Plans
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/10/2005
Mechanical problems may have caused a fitful start and lengthy shutdown of the recently resurrected Las Vegas Monorail, but that hasn't deterred other cities. Judging by recent election results, officials and voters in several cities are confident their mass transit systems are safe and convenient for tradeshow visitors, tourists and commuters.
In Denver, voters overwhelmingly approved a 12-year, $4.7-billion plan to add 119 miles of light and commuter rail. Rich Grant, director of communications at the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, said light-rail tracks already pass by the Colorado Convention Center. The new initiative will create a covered train station inside the convention center.
In Phoenix, with funding from a November ballot proposition, a Phoenix Metro rail route will run from Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl. Airport to the Phoenix Convention Center. Steve Moore, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau, said it should open just as the convention center's $600-million expansion nears completion and a 1,000-room downtown Sheraton Hotel opens.
And in Seattle, despite opponents citing Las Vegas as an example of why the Green Line monorail might be dangerous, voters on Nov. 2 approved construction of a 14-mile elevated train through downtown, west Seattle and neighboring Ballard.
Minneapolis opened the final four miles of its new 12-mile light-rail line on Dec. 4, connecting downtown's Minneapolis Convention Center to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl. Airport.
The Las Vegas Monorail opened in mid-July, months behind schedule. It was shut down again on Sept. 8 after part of a drive assembly fell off one of the cars. After several weeks of testing, monorail operating company Bombardier reopened it to the public on Christmas Eve. At press time, the train was still running, but a spokesperson from Intl. CES, the first major tradeshow to hit town after the monorail's recommissioning, said organizers had no formal plans to integrate it into the show's transportation system.
