STATUS OF NORTH AMERICAN LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEMS: 1995 UPDATE

Progress in light rail transit (LRT) in North America since the last National Light Rail Conference in 1992 is summarized. Existing system rehabilitation and new project planning, design, construction, and start-up activities are discussed. To depict the effects of recent changes in the North American LRT situation, the text and tables update information presented at earlier LRT conferences. Highlights of progress since 1992 include three more new-start LRT systems opened in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Denver; completion of the Los Angeles Green Line in mid-1995; and final design or construction of new starts in Dallas and downtown Chicago as well as on extensions in Portland, Baltimore, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Cleveland. Other LRT systems continue to make improvements and renewals. Planning and preliminary design continue in several more places. With older systems largely renewed and a continuing string of new starts and extensions, LRT continues to be the affordable rail mode for an increasing number of cities. Current LRT projects encompass areas in which LRT is a natural step up from an all-bus system, as well as places that have discarded proposals for more technically novel or costlier guideways.