INTERMODAL STATION DEVELOPMENTS

TEN QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED

1.0 Bakersfield’s private and public leaders should be prepared and willing to change zoning in downtown in order to direct future growth in the direction of the high speed rail system station location by allowing additional density while protecting open space in areas not served proposed LOCAL transit systems.

2.0 Are Bakerfieldians willing to develop HSGT station area specific plans that integrate mixed use development, including housing in the vicinity of the proposed high speed ground transportation system?

3.0 Are pedestrian, bicycle, motor vehicle, local bus transit, inter city bus service access ways part of the proposed station location plan? Are child-care facilities, service retail, including convenience stores and structured PUBLIC parking part of the plan? Will the predictable land uses about such a station be satisfactorily anticipated an area adequate to accommodate the anticipated volume of the suggested annual one million passengers?

4.0 Are Bakersfield governmental agencies willing to commit to building government expansion facilities that serve the public and/or have substantial numbers of employees, within walking distance of the proposed high-speed ground transportation system station?

5.0 To be successful, all transit needs the patron-age, fiscal support and operational advantages that come with better coordinated land use, including detailed design features such as “air rights.” If Bakerfieldians are going to use a multi-modal transit center, it must be close to both existing infrastructure, concentrations of jobs, shopping and housing for success. Density bonuses and multi-level parking land-use spatial incentives should be used whenever feasible to encourage multiple district development downtown such as educational, entertainment, financial etc. Is “air rights” part of the formulae?

6.0 The proposed high-speed ground transportation system has the potential to promote both positive and negative changes in land use, depending on how and where it is designed. Will large stations located near freeways and surrounded by huge park-and-ride lots attract pedestrian-friendly development and will it worsen traffic congestion?

7.0 A beneficial impact not only on consumer choice but on urban downtown urban design form directly result from high-capacity transportation systems that serve intense-use areas Will the attitude to public transportation, the car, bus and rail becomes the important elements in supporting density that at the same time supports public open space?

8.0 The factors in HSGT stations are the actual and potential cost overruns that normally occur with included design problems (upgrades), utility relocation costs, vehicle maintenance facility costs, vehicle cost over-runs (new designs) and land acquisition costs. Will our business sector and government be prepared for the inevitable increases in costs?

9.0 Low-ceiling air pollution inversion, with the introduction of a HSGT system should reduce the pollution levels in our Southern San Joaquin Valley basin. We have to clean our air by thirty percent to qualify for monies to be able to build our proposed freeways. Will this opportunity to clean our air become part of our metropolitan area transportation solution?

10.0 This single opportunity for the proposed high speed ground transportation system station makes economic, social and environmental sense for our fast growing metropolitan Bakersfield. Our only constraint is where HSGT alignments might tend to fall short is that they might have to co-exist with the monopoly provider of freight access, who gains revenues from such traffic. Can we overcome this problem?

A STATISTIC

Federal spending in 2001 will be $33 billion on highways, $13 billion on aviation, and $0.5 billion on rail. To fill this gap, since 1996, 21 states have made capital investments in rail systems totaling more than $850 million. THIS IS STILL A PALTRY AND TOKEN AMMOUNT for “STEEL WHEEL STEEL RAIL”

BY Graham Kaye-Eddie – Master Urban Designer.

Makabusi Inc. – Bakersfield – California

Email – makabusi@pacbell.net

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