How Duke killed an LRT and what that means for transit in the US 

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Great video, its frustrating that in a state like North Carolina that's been very bullish on building out their intercity rail system wouldn't be more proactive in pushing that LRT line through. But NC politics are also kind of insane

As a Chapel Hill native, I've seen roadside signs exclaiming disinterest for the LRT. The reason? Enviormental concerns. This argument mostly stems from the line passing through protected nature reserves. GoTriangle had already proposed plans to reroute the line around those reserves, but apparently that wasn't enough? Honestly, the entire "environmental" clause is stupid considering car transit is far more harmful to the environment compared to mass transit. This cancelled transit project really puts shame to NC. Otherwise the RTP area has a large population of talented individuals, as well as high potential for growth. The Light Rail would have had a stop near my community, but I guess that day will never come :(..

Did you know that Duke of all places actually used to have an automated tram system? It ran from the south part of the medical center to the north part of the medical center, to (ironically) the parking garage at 6:38 using a tunnel under Erwin Road that roughly parallels the crosswalk (which actually made it the only underground transit system in the state). It was called the "patient rapid transit" (or PRT), and it used vehicles that floated on a cushion of air and were propelled by linear induction motors (definitely a very interesting system). It closed in 2009 to make way for a new building, but the tunnel still sits abandoned under Erwin Road. The irony is killing me.

Claiming that the LRT would disrupt the hospitals is completely ridiculous. If you look at Houston’s Light Rail Trains, the Red line literally has stops at the largest medical center in the U.S. Not to mention the Texas Medical Center is just a street away from Rice University.

As a resident of North Carolina, I’ve seen what the light rail has done to Charlotte and it’s quite phenomenal. I wasn’t aware of this situation in the triangle, so I really appreciate you bringing light to this. Really wish the best for the triangle and their future transit plans

This was THE project that sent me down the urbanism rabbit hole. The city next door was seemingly months away from breaking ground on its first fixed-guideway transit line, and it was snatched away by a privileged few. I started asking the question, “why can’t smaller American cities have good transit too?”

Thank you for this video. As a Charlotte resident, I’ve seen the fight for light rail expansion fail in our city and was disappointed by the collapse of LRT. I see tons of videos about Chicago transit issues all the time, so thanks for shining light on NC’s struggle!

Private institutions shouldn't have the power to object to or block public infrastructure projects when those infrastructure projects are running across public land (if this project required building on land actually owned by Duke University, that's different)

Thanks for making this video! As a Durham native and student in chapel hill it was so sad to learn that the plan was killed (and confirmed my anti duke bias)

Norfolk, Virginia Beach LRT. The Norfolk section got built but VB shut it down, so sad

LA just tunneled right nexts to the Walt Disney music hall. They are scared about the acoustics being damaged and being able to hear a train go past every 4 mins. guess what...nothing happened.

As a European interested in American transit/urbanism, when reading stuff on the topic, I always come across about cases like this. And it always makes me confused: a University is against transit? Isn't that exactly the place that supports transit? Other cases are for example communities in California opposing any form of transit or reforms of zoning laws. Like, isn't California exactly the place where they support such stuff? Just the contradictions here, it's never clear who is supporting what. Any reason for this?

I was a duke student and advocating for the LRT a the time, such a shame and you nailed it on all fronts. Would love a video on the recent setback to Durham Raleigh regional rail!

Adding this to my list of reasons of why I hate Duke

The Maryland Red Line in Baltimore is a notable one here that was affected by government. It remains a poignant example of how changing administrations and legislators at the state level can drastically affect the completion of transit projects. I remember when the Durham-Orange light rail was cancelled and think your analysis is solid

crazy how charlotte has a very excellent LRT line, and a subpar streetcar, as well as planning another high quality one and a commuter rail, in the time that the one RDU rapid transit solution failed. Hope they can get another one in the works!!!!

ah i wish this video had more views! as someone who lives in the area its so clear some kind of public transportation (other than the great bus system we fortunately have) has been needed in the triangle for decades. seeing that charlotte has a light rail, the raleigh durham area is very much lacking so I wish there was more support.

Thank you for bringing attention to this issue. Based on the comments left so far, you might be able to do a follow up video with a deeper dive and that might help this thing finally get built. I'm sure we would love it. All your videos are great

watched this video and got mad at Duke again lol

I am so glad I found this channel. Such good video quality, I’m hoping the videos blow up

it's funny seeing duke complaining about construction for light rail when NC State literally has freight trains running through campus daily

Amazing video!! I would recommend covering the failed red line extension in Baltimore that is desperately needed. It even secured federal funding to my knowledge but the state returned it and canceled the project.

This is your first video I've seen, but well done! Even tho I live in Upstate SC and am tapped into urbanism I never heard about this project so my surprise and sadness are immense! Glad to see Charlotte has been charting a much more pro transit path in stark regard.

Well done. It may be that a majority of North Carolina voters want better transit. But a majority of the money in North Carolina does not. I appreciated the reference to the destruction of 'the Black Wall Street' which is not an aberration in North Carolina. Just look up "north carolina city with streets named after confederate generals" to get a feel for the underpinnings of "the system" in North Carolina.

Excited to hear your thoughts about Cincinnati's lost transit. It's a "what could've been" type of city, but there's also some really great things happening. It's thriving currently in the arts and historical revitalization of neighborhoods like Over the Rhine. The University of Cincinnati is one of the top rated universities and rapidly growing. And, yes, our transit is slowly improving service with two BRT lines being built to open in 2028 along with talks of expanding the streetcar (nothing official yet unfortunately). The BRT lines will stop at the University and downtown and move northeast/west, connecting these neighborhoods to downtown. This is desperately needed in Cincinnati: connecting the suburbs and surrounding neighborhoods to downtown. Cincinnati is also better off than other cities because it didn't destroy it's 19th century buildings, just left them largely abandoned. The past couple decades, they've been restoring these buildings to a now lively area in downtown. Still a lot of work to be done, but movement is there and it's being done. Just wish it was faster. Public sentiment regarding transit has changed a lot here too. Two decades ago, the vast majority were against transit and any funding towards it, now people are more supportive. You should follow Brad Thomas on twitter for Cincinnati transit stats and the like: twitter.com/bradleywthomas Couple other links for Cincinnati transit history because why not: www.urbancincy.com/2011/02/cincinnati-missed-on-huge-opportunity-with-urban-mass-transit-act-of-1970/ transitnky.weebly.com/past-efforts-to-create-rail-transit.html

I really like this theme of failed public transit systems and this video about LRT. The details covered about organizations, funding and ‘lessons learnt’ are all well presented. Suggestion to incorporate lost opportunity (in terms of the housing and business impacts; eg affordable housing point you covered in a sentence) and reactions/comments about general public/project people who were actually trying to make it happen. Your content should have more appreciation on platform in general, I’ll like+subscribe. Keep it up.

Awesome video. I love your case studies focus on discussing transit. Its something sorely missing in the online rhetoric about equitable transit.

Loved this video! My suggestion for another LRT funding failure investigation would be CorridorOne in Harrisburg PA. It all hinged on the no vote of ONE very smarmy guy in my county. I can give you more info if you end up looking into it

Excellent video as usual! Would love to see ya cover the Lou’s lost rail potential someday 🙃

Bro im so glad I got another transit channel to watch.. Already subbed. Keep up the great work. also America used to be all trains. here in Memphis tennessee in the 60's they destroyed their street car system and replaced with shitty busses and roads that don't really connect the 2nd largest city in the state and one of americas most important Distribution hubs.

Good video Moose

The Triangle needs a transit strategy and plan, but I don't think that this now defunct line is the first priority. For context, the entire Durham-Chapel Hill MSA is about half of the population of Wake County (Raleigh) alone. The first line in the Triangle should be from downtown Raleigh to downtown Durham and it should be a heavy/regional rail line that moves faster along an existing rail corridor that also runs through the region's shared jobs center: RTP.

Just found you. Your voice is AMAZING.

I can see you using Cincinnati's Union Terminal as B-Roll while talking about lost transit systems. Cincinnati is certainly a goldmine of lost transit, from the subway to MetroMoves 2002 and the Downtown - Milford Commuter Rail plan in 2015. Cincinnati has failed at so many opportunities to do better than 14 lanes of I-75 and even with the 2020 tax levy that finally passed, the best we get from it is street running BRT...

Great video! I wonder if what transit needs to gain traction is to employ wedge tactics like what Robert Moses used to build freeways 🤔

Hey love the videos! What editing software are you using? Looks great!

What an incredibly well produced video

puke fumbled it unfortunately

Duke basketball has been in shambles since these events

You're just beautiful. Your voice is killer. Your videos emphasizing the importance of source of funding, procurement, construction, design specs, alignments and trying to satisfy myriad number of partners in a region to get transit to work is just amazing. Sometimes, too much of democracy is bad too.

Thanks for this video. Hopefully it will be helpful for future transit lines and systems. Because of real or perceived "veto power" I know that in some cases legislation has been passed to prevent a city or property owner to block a transit line. Unfortunately I can't remember which state that is/was. Duke should not have had this power,

I would LOVE to know the True story of why the Skybus elevated transit system was not built in the Pittsburgh, Pa metro area. The time line was the 1960s and early 1970s. An inadequate light rail system was eventually built that only connects the south suburbs with downtown Pittsburgh, the sprorts venues and ends at a CASINO!

The Dumbarton extension of Caltrain might be an interesting lost transit to cover, fully funded then one of the counties just kept commissioning study after study increasing the cost of

The Citybahn in Wiesbaden/Mainz (Germany) was lost due to NIMBYism. They had a poll about whether to build it and the NIMBYs simply had more money for ads. The whole city was plastered with posters talking about trees that will be cut down and traffic chaos that will ensue. Now Wiesbaden is still one of the largest cities in Germany without rail public transit, I live pretty near but never go there because of that.

Good vid!

Part of me wonders how Duke's parking issues play into this and how bus dependent Duke is as a whole.

this is so good! it needs more views lol

Hospitals and associated building with rail transit near or around them, you forgot to mention Edmonton transit's LRT line that runs past the University of Alberta Hospital to the west, directly across the street, then two blocks south runs along the east side of the Cross Cancer Institute. Only people trying to get drive on 114th street complain, otherwise it's good.

Few things have made me more angry that the cancellation of this project. Durham loses decades of progress from Duke's veto. I think an interesting investigation would be to find out how many donations Duke was receiving from the Koch family while this was going on. Their Public Policy department is floating on Koch cash.

A juxtapose of the DC Metro and the proposed Baltimore metro would be cool. One city followed through, the other abandoned most of their plan for more highways.

take a peek at the Red line in Baltimore if you get a chance

This may be the first inbetweeners reference I’ve seen on RU-vid.

The Purple Line problems, aka "for this we cancelled the Red Line"

Two good examples from the Philly area are the Roosevelt Blvd Subway and former proposed PATCO lines. There are projects in mind currently in very early stages, but a lot of NIMBYism and scaling back reigns supreme.

Wow. Just when I couldn’t hate Duke and NC even more, they outdo themselves.

Does the same scrutiny go toward high projects? I think not.

✌🏾

Houston's University Line Light Rail

Duke, Go Puke

FFS why can't we just start with 2 stations and a depot and then work up from there? Why do they try to build an entire line in one bite?

Leeds super tram in the uk

The real story: inflation always wins.

As a North Carolinian, Duke is detested for many reasons. The biggest being that they seem to only leach off of Durham. They have such a strong sense of entitlement because they feel like they’re injecting the area with talent, which they are, but they severely lag behind other universities in community outreach and inclusion.

just eminent domain Duke, like wtf.

riiiiide the bus

Another reason to hate Duke

if i recall avent ferry got built up in front of house windows....and I don't think a black person lived in them at the time.

7:55 O.K. This criticism isn't on you. You would think the freaking news broadcasters would know the difference between 'breaks' and 'brakes'! Yes, I'm a grammer nazi. No, I have no shame.

Duke sucks. If you know, you know.

What a weird roundabout way to push for a socialist dictatorship.

Dang Sonyep