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Getting Around: Pie in the sky -- and trains that fly
Sunday, January 02, 2000 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Let's start the first column of the new year with a wild, futuristic idea. Or two or three.
How about a new north-south expressway stretching from Toronto to Miami? It would follow an alignment that would utilize Route 219 through Bradford, DuBois, Johnstown and Somerset as it passes through Pennsylvania.
Nope, I wasn't overindulging in bubbly the past two days.
About 100 supporters of the proposal showed up last month at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Campus for the inaugural meeting of a group called Continental 1, leading the charge to develop such an expressway.
Group president Glenn Miller, a Somerset businessman, said the proposal is not a ploy to improve Route 219 but a vision of a limited-access international trade and travel corridor to promote economic development as well as to provide new road capacity between Toronto -- Canada's economic engine -- and Miami -- the USA's "Caribbean Capital."
Group vice president Chris Hauser, a Bradford attorney, said Continental 1 crosses two major rail freight lines and 14 east-west interstate highways.
The highway supporters have hired their first full-time employee, operations director John Brennan, whose duties include fund raising.
Continental 1 did not provide a cost estimate. (Why scare people?) Or a timetable. (Why raise false hopes?)
But if you want more info, write Continental 1 c/o 651 Montmorenci Ave., Ridgway, PA 15853; phone (814) 773-3162; or e-mail con1@ncentral.com
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The cover of the 36-page media package declared, "Trains that fly could span America coast to coast by 2010." That sort of declaration really catches your attention when you live in a city that's taking 10 years to rehabilitate the Fort Pitt Bridge and Tunnel and longer to build "Stage II" of a light-snail transit system.
"This ground transportation is not MAGLEV," a news release claimed. "It is engineered and designed using aerospace technology and will achieve speeds up to 250 mph elevated on a 12-foot-high precast concrete electromagnetic guideway."
Trains That Fly Inc. also claimed that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has agreed to consider a right-of-way from Erie to Meadville to build a 30-mile test section. Erie was chosen so the company could purchase aluminum, steel and electrical components "all from a depressed labor market in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia," TTF said.
While the train "flies" along the guideway, passengers are to ride in silent comfort in either a 20-passenger first-class "pilot car" or 56-passenger aerospace-designed "plush cabins."
The corporation wants Pennsylvania and other states to put up a $10 million deposit each. It said that deposits will be refunded within 24 months, once the system is in place and trains are making money. Private investments in $1 million increments will be accepted.
Trains That Fly Inc. also said a Waynesburg law firm is holding a $1.5 billion financial commitment obtained from an unidentified foreign trust.
Lest skeptical media types get a fly-by-night feeling about Trains That Fly Inc., the company included a computer-generated drawing showing how a "flying train" would serve Pittsburgh. The guideway abuts the Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne bridges, with a large, igloo-like station and big parking lot plopped down in the middle of Point State Park.
If you want more info, write to company president Brian Keeley, a retired British aerospace engineer, c/o Trains That Fly Inc., Box 9514, Ontario, Calif. 91762.
Maybe its time has come, because Philadelphia, a city we love to hate, is getting one.
The Delaware River Port Authority has approved $26 million to build a tram across the Delaware River, linking the Camden and Philadelphia waterfronts. Construction is to begin next spring and take 18 to 24 months to finish.
Plans call for the aerial tram to transport up to 3,000 people an hour on gondolas 180 feet above the river. The system is to link attractions on the Camden waterfront with Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. The waterfronts that now draw about 2 million visitors annually are expected to draw up to 10 million when developments are completed.
The enclosed gondolas will resemble those used in ski areas. Rides are expected to take about four minutes and cost as much as $5 per round-trip ticket.
If Eastern Pennsylvania can link the Camden and Philadelphia waterfronts, why can't Western Pennsylvania link the Monongahela and Allegheny riverfronts? An aerial tram between Station Square and the North Shore, with a stop Downtown?
A tram following a Stanwix Street alignment would be a unique attraction and provide practical transportation links where they're badly needed.
A tram also would be a unique addition to a city of bridges, tunnels, three rivers, two inclines, one toll road and Adtranz, an international manufacturer of people movers, helping make Pittsburgh a showcase of transportation technologies.
Based on the Delaware Port Authority example, it could be built for 20 percent of the $150 million cost of a new Mon River bridge that public officials have been pushing to build. Not one historic property in Firstside would have to be displaced.
Hey, Grata. You got Y2K fever? You get any more crazy ideas, keep them to yourself.
Send your transportation questions, complaints and suggestions to Joe Grata c/o The Post-Gazette or e-mail him at jgrata@post-gazette.com. Please include your address and phone number for confirmation.
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