Project Connect: the good & the bad

In case you forgot, I'm on vacation, so I'm not going to comment fully on this until next week, but at the very least I wouldn't to share some helpful links about the most recent update on Project Connect.

You can find maps of the new routes and key facts – notably the projected ridership –  on the ATP website.

The routes presented did differ from the ones they were circulating a few weeks ago. There's now only one route that goes down S. Congress at all. There are no routes that go further south than Oltorf.

At first glance the best proposed route appears to be this one:

It boasts a projected ridership of nearly 40k, which is significantly higher than any of the other proposed routes.

Julio Gonzalez Altamirano notes the one downside:

The other big question for ATP is whether it's offering a much stingier plan than necessary simply because of a fanatical commitment to staying below a rather arbitrary price point. A year ago, ATP did the opposite: it needlessly scared the shit out of the public by unveiling a new plan that required 4x as much tunnel as initially anticipated and which, surprise surprise, cost nearly twice as much! Is it now overcorrecting for the fiscal fear it manufactured then?

I'll have more on this next week. Until then, I'd recommend Julio's commentary.