Re: Architectural questions, by gum!

Date: Tuesday, 20 December 1994 8:17am ET
To: D@xxxxxxxxx=ATTMAIL."I=internet!psuvm.psu.edu!design-l".X400
From: Curtis.Palmer@ACOGTAO
Subject: Re: Architectural questions, by gum!

Randolph...  on Monday (20 Dec) you wrote:

>>I'm working on a portfolio project which has turned into a very
 city-of-the-future sort of
design.  I started out with a simple little light-rail station near De Anza
 college on Stevens
Creek Blvd. in Silicon Valley.  Then I got to wondering what it would take to
 take Stevens
Creek Boulevard, which seems to me the real commerical downtown of Silicon
 Valley, and
make a transit system work there.  My tentative answer involves giving the whole
 street a
second level with light rail and moving sidewalks, sort of a 90's "el". <<

Perhaps I can offer another way to look at your "tentative answer  involving
 giving the
whole street a second level with light rail and moving sidewalks"...

Were you living in the area when they had the design problem of how to get the
 light rail
below grade so it would cross the rail road just north of downtown San Jose?  I
 remember
that it was a very big deal to provide enough distance to make the change in
 grade for the
light rail.

My alternative approach would be to drop the _vehicular_ traffic BELOW grade,
 and allow
the light rail to be at grade with the surrounding businesses.  I also think you
 get into a
much more manageable solution (one that would not require major and unique
 structural
solutions).

Just an idea.

Curtis V Palmer
Manager, CAD Systems / Physical Planning
Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games