Bitch, please! If a dunghole like Atlanta can host the Olympics, so can Boston, local panjandrum says

That is exactly the only valid reason to support the idea of hosting an Olympics (my other reason is because my hobby is an Olympic sport so it would be cool to see it here, but that's just something for me). That point would be nullified if we actually build the stuff we need regardless, but we all know they rather foot drag over the next 50 years over for almost every project.

Theoretically (and very theoretically as it is possible we could have an Olympics and they still build nothing useful for Boston), the Olympics would force up the timetable with a hard deadline.

as much as i'd really, genuinely love to see the public transportation system get some proper (and necessary!) investment, i think it'll be a cold day in hell before something of that scope happens without the pressure from something like the olympics coming.

This sentence is nine words too long.

It looks like what I see in my hobby. The earliest charter was to haul granite from Quincy and then a set of lines to the key area cities followed Lowell, Worcester and Providence.

The Lowell was in competition with the canal, initially.

It's impressive how much of that initial infrastructure still works.

The Eastern Railroad line to Saugus and West Lynn is fascinating and strange. It'll be my next project and is an old route. I found the ghost of the Andover and Wilmington rail bed and one of its customers was a soapstone quarry

the early charters for railroads were framed on the supposition that they would be used like turnpikes; and provided that any one might enter upon them with his own engines and cars, by paying tolls. Availing themselves of this provision, certain parties, in 1837, organized themselves under a charter for the Seekonk branch proposing to build about a quarter of a mile of road at the Providence end, and a separate station in Boston., and to use the whole intermediate part of the Boston & Providence road with their own engines and cars. For about three years, the operations of these parties were a serious annoyance to The Boston and Providence Railroad Company; but the matter was then settled by the purchase of the property of the intruding corporation, and the passage of a law by the Legislature forbidding one railroad corporation to enter with its engines upon the road of another company, unless by their consent.

From an Appleton, no less.

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abnere1.Html

... we moved FROM the Atlanta area to Boston was the endless traffic (and endless driving) required in Atlanta....

... my hand stays down.

I remember seeing red a week or so ago when someone compared the transportation infrastructure of Boston unfavorably with Atlanta, so no, I would say that Boston compares well to Atlanta. Perhaps Boston is not as good as some other cities, but from what I have gathered, overall Atlanta is a crappy place to get around.

Traffic is a barometer of economic success. When people don't have jobs to go to or products and services to deliver, traffic volumes decreased. With recovery, traffic volumes are also rebounding. Consider traffic volumes in Atlanta as the price of success.

Metro Atlanta has a population 1 million greater than metro Boston, hence more traffic. The geographical area is about that of the state of Massachusetts, hence much lower housing costs from lower population density. The limiting factors of growth for cities is transportation, water, sanitation, energy, food, jobs, housing, and cost of living. Boston's ceiling is transportation and cost of living. Housing shortage and cost is satisfied by transportation to more distant areas, a dismal option here due to insufficient roadway capacity. Massachusetts is also hurt by having among the highest electric rates in the U.S. while Georgia is below average by state.