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Message: [QUOTE="OttoMets, post: 2917028, member: 716"] I agree with some of this. A grid won't be a panacea, cheaper for cheaper's sake is idiotic, and lawsuits are coming. For motorists whose drive could get longer: this is an interesting question. Should it matter? I'm not offering an answer to that question, but it's worth discussing. To what extent should a billion-dollar transportation project be shaped by the prospect of X number of drivers facing an increase in miles traveled by Y with an added time delay of Z? To what extent should those who are saving miles and time cancel that out? And how does the economic activity/property value situation outweigh both of those considerations? Regarding cheaper being better - I think this is a cynical (or politically expedient) ploy to appeal to a certain type of voter/politician who views everything in life through the prism of dollars and cents. I don't love it, but in this instance, I'm not complaining if it's effective. And, as you say, cheaper [U]can[/U] be the better option, but not necessarily for that reason. (For a number of reasons, I think it is in this instance.) University Hill vs. the South Side...this is like the "barrier" characterization. Those who don't have first-hand experience with the area don't seem to understand the relationship, and there's no getting around that. I'll just say that this is a place-making opportunity. Right now, the corridor is an ugly, inhospitable place suffering from disinvestment. That stands in contrast to adjacent neighborhoods and hinders their growth. Tunnel or expanded viaducts will, based on everything we know, fail to improve this situation or even worsen it. Reliance on the existing grid comes with none of those problems. The one externality associated with a grid is increased driving times for some motorists in some areas. An micro-level inconvenience in many ways? Sure. The basis for ignoring decades of good policy outcomes elsewhere, eh, I'm not convinced. [/QUOTE]

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