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CHAPTER 2
The History of Multimodal Corridors
As the interstate highway system nears completion, de- of previous multimodal corridor efforts. To take full advantage
mand for transportation services is increasingly outstripping of both these methods, it is important to understand the history
supply. The costs of new construction in already-built corri- of multimodal corridors.
dors have been prohibitive. Ripping out established neigh-
borhoods to build a new transportation facility has become
increasingly objectionable over the years for numerous rea- The Historical Evolution
sons, including environmental, aesthetic, social equity, and of Multimodal Corridors
economic disruptions.1 Meanwhile, congestion continues The complexity of multimodal corridors makes it diffi-
to grow and the environmental consequences of automobile cult to realize the goals that originally inspired their plan-
travel have steadily eroded public support for new freeway ning, design, and implementation. Several early examples of
construction. multimodal corridors combined transit and highways. Per-
The motivation for developing multimodal corridors haps the first is New York City's Brooklyn Bridge--a structure
originally arose from a simple need: to assemble land for a built across the East River in the late nineteenth century--
transit (or freeway) right-of-way at a reasonable cost.1 More and the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensbourough
recently, multimodal corridors have been seen as offering Bridges built in the early twentieth century. In the 1930s,
qualities beyond low-cost construction, with performance rail transit was incorporated into the Delaware River Bridge
benefits over and above those possible from stand-alone between Philadelphia and Camden, and into the San Francisco-
freeway or transit facilities. The history of how multimodal Oakland Bay Bridges. The Shaker Heights "rapid" (in the
corridors have evolved provides insights into the changing Cleveland, Ohio, suburbs) was built in the wide median of
perspectives on transit, freeways, and multimodal corridors. Shaker Boulevard in the early 1920s. On or around 1941 a
Multimodal corridors can serve another function: providing an section of the San Fernando Valley interurban line of the
integrated, multimodal system where each mode complements Pacific Electric Railway was relocated into the Hollywood
the other, yielding a total corridor level of service greater than Freeway median near Mulholland Drive in Cahuenga Pass
the sum of its parts. in Los Angeles.1
Although the history of multimodal corridors offers many One common theme motivating all of these early examples
techniques and tools that can help achieve cost savings and was the desire for construction cost savings. This original
avoid land acquisition headaches, building an integrated, purpose--to reduce land acquisition and construction costs--
complementary multimodal system within a travel corridor may have seemed like a sensible, straightforward idea, but
has remained an elusive goal. The new paradigm we discuss challenges arose almost immediately that made it difficult to
offers tools and techniques for achieving these elusive ends, realize these cost-reduction benefits.
but it does not throw away the lessons and insights of the old Successfully retrofitting transit facilities into an existing
paradigm--the new paradigm builds on the methods and ideas freeway corridor was one of the first and most intractable
challenges encountered because of the potential for dislocating
businesses and disrupting economic activities. This challenge
1
Krambles, G. "Expressway Rapid Transit," A paper prepared for the 1971 was evident in the first era of multimodal corridor planning,
ASCE-ASME National Transportation Engineering Meeting, Seattle, July 26, 1971. the Street Railway Era (see Figure 2-1).
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Source: Public domain, United States Library of Congress's Prints and
Photographs division.
Figure 2-1. Traffic and commerce disruptions from
street railway lines in Washington, DC.
Source: Historic photo courtesy of San Francisco History Center, San Francisco
18901950: The Street Railway Era Public Library.
From the earliest days of modern cities, as the industrial Figure 2-2. Streetcar-caused congestion on
revolution was transforming and increasing the size of cities San Francisco's Market Street circa 1947.
at a rapid pace, transportation planners and engineers gravi-
tated toward combining transit and road facilities into street
reliability, removing their operations from the congestion
railways--the earliest version of a modern, multimodal cor-
delays and conflicts of automobile traffic. Although this
ridor facility. By combining fixed-rail transit and urban surface
solution might have seemed ideal to transit advocates, the
streets into a single facility, social, economic, and political
growth of automobile use and the demands placed on the urban
disruptions were minimized and a more efficient use of the
street networks proved insatiable, and streetcar rights-of-way
existing street right-of-way and its neighboring land uses
were increasingly turned over to automobile traffic.
resulted.1
After World War II, metropolitan areas in the United States
But street railway systems had their drawbacks, the most
expanded rapidly, sprawling outward with freeway- and
serious of which were the conflicts between streetcars and other
automobile-led development, and access to and from these new
modes sharing a mixed-flow right-of-way. Before the intro-
suburbs to the traditional urban core areas--the neighbor-
duction of the automobile, transit vehicles could dominate
hoods that had been developed in a transit-oriented fashion--
this environment, setting the pace of flow and demanding
remained difficult and expensive. Wherever possible, under-
priority through a combination of the bulk and speed of their
utilized transit and freight rail rights-of-way were converted
vehicles along with a liberal use of bell-clanging. As the auto-
into multimodal facilities, carrying both modes, or converted
mobile gained in popularity, streetcars began to take second
completely to freeways. Los Angeles's famed Pacific Electric
priority in mixed-flow traffic and increasingly had to wait for
Railway interurban rapid rail system was torn up and largely
automobile traffic congestion to clear or caused congestion
replaced with freeways. Many other cities followed suit. In
themselves (see Figure 2-2).
Chicago, however, a hint of things to come could be seen:
As the automobile became the preferred mode of urban travel
efforts to make transit and freeways co-exist and thrive in the
in U.S. cities, streetcar lines were increasingly abandoned,
same rights-of-way, were beginning.
their tracks torn up, and their rights-of-way turned over
completely to the automobile. Some cities, such as Boston
and New Orleans, avoided this problem by giving streetcars
19551965: The Chicago Era
their own, exclusive rights-of-way in the center median of
large streets--which we might call semi-grade separated. This Ironically, the first truly multimodal corridor--Chicago's
solution gave streetcars an advantage in terms of speed and Eisenhower Expressway/Blue Line facility--was built not as a
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means to add more transit capacity but to add more freeway
capacity. The planned freeway needed roughly 550 feet of
right-of-way width, extending the full length of the city from
east (at the central business district) to the developing suburbs
in the west. Running along this alignment was the Metropolitan
West Side Elevated Railway, occupying its own 75-foot-wide
right-of-way. Instead of wholesale removal of the transit line
as had been done in Los Angeles, Chicago acquired additional
land around the existing right-of-way and rebuilt the transit
line in the median of the new freeway facility.
Once completed in 1960, cost studies found that it was
substantially less expensive to build rail in a multimodal
corridor than the freeway facility--the division of costs was
estimated at roughly 80 percent of total costs to freeway and Source: Photo courtesy of Van den Bossche Peter.
20 percent to rail. Passenger-loading surveys showed that the
number of patrons served during peak hours exceeded those Figure 2-3. Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway/Red Line.
of the freeway.1
It quickly became clear that the Eisenhower/Blue Line offered
commute passenger (see Figure 2-3). Station spacing is a
a new model for providing grade-separated transit service
primary determinant of rail transit speeds--the fewer the
into the heart of an established urban area using existing or
number of stations, the faster the train can travel to its CBD
proposed freeway rights-of-way. Although this corridor was
destination. Similarly (though with less certainty) freeway
built as a multimodal facility essentially by adding a freeway
interchanges play a role in determining automobile speeds
to an existing transit line, its success in operational terms was
because vehicles entering and exiting the freeway cause dis-
sufficient proof of concept to encourage other areas to consider
ruptions in traffic flows that can cause congestion and reduced
their own combined freeway and transit line facilities.
speeds. Thus, the fewer the number of interchanges, the higher
Chicago quickly followed this success with the Eisenhower
the average freeway travel speeds.
corridor in the Kennedy (opening in 1961) and Dan Ryan
A simple comparison of the median spacings between inter-
Expressway (opening in 1962) corridors. Although federal
changes and stations along each of Chicago's three multi-
monies for constructing freeways were readily available from
modal corridors suggests planners took a different approach
the Federal Aid Freeway Act of 1956, the federal government
with the Dan Ryan Expressway/Red Line. Although the median
had no such financing program for transit capital projects. As
station spacings are roughly equal to the median interchange
a result, the rail components of these corridors were not built
spacings for the Kennedy and Eisenhower corridors, the
when the expressways opened, and the Chicago Transit Agency
median station spacings are almost double the median inter-
temporarily ran buses in the mixed-flow lanes of the Dan Ryan
change spacings in the Dan Ryan corridor. This suggests that
and Kennedy facilities until rail construction funds could be
the Dan Ryan's planners wanted to give the rail line a com-
found. In 1964, Congress passed legislation offering funding
petitive travel time advantage over its adjacent freeway. In this
assistance for transit capital and construction costs. In 1966,
respect, the Dan Ryan line represented a shift in multimodal
Chicago's mayor, Richard J. Daley, put a bond initiative before
corridor design towards a model more similar to a commuter
the voters to fund the construction costs for the Kennedy and
rail line--offering less access to neighborhoods along the
Dan Ryan rail lines. It passed by a 2-to-1 margin, and con-
spine of its corridor and emphasizing speed for long-distance
struction began on both projects after approval of the grant
commuters. This approach was enthusiastically adopted by
assistance from the federal government. The rail component
the next wave of multimodal corridors designed for the BART
of the Dan Ryan Expressway/Red Line was opened and oper-
system in the San Francisco Bay Area.
ational in 1969 and in the Kennedy corridor 4 months later.1
The design of Chicago's first three multimodal corridors
was similar in many respects. However, while the case can be
19651980: The Park-and-Ride Access Era
made that the transit facilities in the Eisenhower/Blue Line
and Kennedy Expressway/Blue Line corridors were built to Taking cues from the successes in Chicago, the San Francisco
compete directly with their adjacent freeways for the same region designed its heavy/rapid rail system to take advantage
travel market, the Dan Ryan/Red Line corridor was built to give of available freeway rights-of-way wherever possible. Unlike
the rail line a competitive advantage in terms of travel speed Chicago's expressways, which were often planned and built in
for one segment of the corridor travel market--the long-haul tandem with their rapid rail components, San Francisco's Bay
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Area Rapid Transit (BART) system was planned, designed, with high automobile traffic volumes from the freeway making
and built as an afterthought to the freeway network. BART's the street environment decidedly unfriendly for pedestrians
planners knew their system would often be at a competitive and bicycles.
disadvantage vis-ŕ-vis the freeway system in terms of travel Public perception of transit as an old and slow technology
times, speed, the surrounding land configurations, and public was addressed as well. BART intentionally designed its trains
perception. with a sleek, futuristic appearance,2 even at the expense of
BART's planners decided to try to give the system's trains operational convenience and performance. A noticeable
a fighting chance against the freeways wherever possible. By example of this public perception-driven design emphasis is
planning multimodal corridors--where the new trains would the sloped front of the train design. BART's engineers inten-
run in the medians or directly adjacent to a freeway--BART tionally designed the front and end cars to project a futuristic
planners designed the system to function more like a high- image; this over protests from within BART itself that the
capacity commuter rail train than a heavy rail system. Station design was impractical from an operations standpoint since
spacings that are much wider than in Chicago's Dan Ryan it would not allow front and end cars to be placed between cars
corridor are the most obvious result of this decision, giving in a connected train, as other heavy rail systems can.
BART trains on the Concord Line (now known as the Pittsburg/ The BART system focused on luring freeway drivers out of
Bay Point Line) corridor very high average speeds. Similarly, their cars and on to trains, by making transit attractive in terms
large, commuter-rail-style park-and-ride lots surround most of comparative travel times to downtown San Francisco and
suburban stations on the BART system (see Figure 2-4). BART's Oakland, by offering ease of transfer between freeways and
suburban stations often were placed directly adjacent to freeway BART, and through a futuristic design aesthetic. Although
interchange ramps, minimizing the difficulties of intermodal this automobile-access priority for suburban stations is
transfers from freeway to BART by drivers. sensible from the perspective of planners trying to address
Park-and-ride access station designs also encouraged and the competitive advantage of nearby freeways, it also limited
perpetuated the automobile-orientation of their surrounding the long-term influence of the system on corridor land use
corridor land uses. Long station spacings mean fewer stations development patterns.
within the corridor, which reduced the opportunities for BART was one of the first post-World War II heavy rail sys-
BART to influence surrounding land uses and the travel pat- tem built in the United States and became a model for systems
terns of corridor residents. Park-and-ride lots surrounding to come. BART's design priorities were adopted by planners
stations took up valuable land for car access that could have in other cities for their multimodal corridors. The Washington
been used for transit-oriented developments. Placing BART Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Metro-
stations close to freeway interchange ramps cemented the politan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA) systems
automobile-orientation of the areas surrounding stations, designed similar lines in freeway corridors with large station
spacings and park-and-ride-oriented station access designs.
1980Today: The Low(er)-Cost Era
Although there were cost savings to be had by sharing rail and
freeway rights-of-way, most multimodal corridors planned and
built since Chicago's Eisenhower Expressway/Blue Line were
expensive heavy rail systems. In Chicago, the pre-existing heavy
rail system made this mode the obvious choice. In San Fran-
cisco, BART planners hoped to halt and even reverse the ever-
growing dominance of the automobile and its freeway system
as the preferred mode of regional travel and the driving force
behind suburban sprawl. Heavy rail's high passenger capacities,
fast operating speeds, and image made it the transit mode of
choice for large and prosperous cities. But costs of $100 million
per mile or more for heavy rail construction caused many cities
Source: GoogleEarth.
2Webber, M., The BART Experience--What Have We Learned?, October 1976,
Figure 2-4. BART's Lafayette Station in the median of No. 26, Institute of Urban and Regional Development and the Institute of
State Route 24. Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
