Really now? That's the entire reason the US has problems with transit because some old rails are now bike paths? There really isn't any other reason you can think of?
Creating new right-of-way is terribly expensive and destructive. The old rail system used to provide mass transit, and it ran through the cities in the county.
The County also goes to great lengths to spend as much money as possible. When digging a new tunnel, the excavated material was used to stuff the old tunnel, meaning there was no increase in capacity. In another instance, once the tunnel was finished, the $$$$$$$ tunnel boring machine was sold for scrap instead of being reused.
Old unused railways being repurposed as bike paths actually can be good for general mobility, traffic safety, etc.
In the case you are describing I'd still say it is more of a symptom of an underlying issue to be honest. One you yourself do actually describe.
> The County also goes to great lengths to spend as much money as possible. When digging a new tunnel, the excavated material was used to stuff the old tunnel, meaning there was no increase in capacity. In another instance, once the tunnel was finished, the $$$$$$$ tunnel boring machine was sold for scrap instead of being reused.
To me this more or less seems to hint at an overall lack of vision on transit and traffic in general. Or rather, the unwillingness to do the investments necessary. Frankly, the fact that you even got biking infrastructure at all is sort of amazing and probably only happened because the investment needed was minimal.
It's not useful biking infrastructure, because of the way that the Cross-Kirkland Corridor is arranged. You can't really get to work, or to the store, or to school with it. Unless you work at Google, it's only really useful as a recreational route.
The purpose of redeveloping the rail line into a biking path wasn't to improve biking infrastructure, or reduce Kirkland's dependency on cars. It was to hamstring any mass transit that might go into that space.
It doesn't go directly to Bellevue Mall, but the line runs close enough to it that the mall is within easy walking distance, along with the rest of downtown.
I walk on the bike paths now and then. There isn't remotely the traffic on them like the parallel road. And that's in good weather. 6 months of the year, when it's wet and chilly, it's empty.
While transit would be carrying lots more people year round.
Then there's the rail line that used to run from Renton to Bothell, paralleling 405 which is gridlocked every day. A couple of people are on the bike path now and then, when the weather is good.
Sure, I get your point. In your specific case in your specific region, it is a shame that this did happen. However, the first comment you made was a much more generalized, broadly sweeping statement. A statement that effectively did seem to dismiss biking infrastructure or the investment in biking infrastructure. It is that statement I took issue with, not the highly anecdotal specific case it turned out to be based.
I can think of two rails-to-trails projects in my area. The first is the old Georgetown Spur, running from about the Silver Spring Metro station to the old C&O Canal towpath. That right of way was never used for passenger trains, it served two trains per week taking coal to a power plant in Georgetown. It was unprofitable for the railroad which gladly stopped the service as soon as the power plant got permission for deliveries by truck.
The second is the Washington and Old Dominion trail in Arlington and Fairfax Counties, which runs from Rosslyn to I don't know where--I've never been on it past Falls Church. That commuter line was shut down for many years before the bike path opened.
In general, the old rail transit lines around here have been long disused, unless they share the tracks with Amtrak and freight.
That's NIMBY neighbourhoods firing a pre-emptive salvo, to prevent those lines, and the easements around them from being re-developed into new transit lines. Presumably to keep the poors and undesirables and people without cars out of their beautiful town.
How would transit solve the problem they are trying to solve - a fast efficient manner to deliver stuff without human intervention? Would a person hop on a train someone be a better alternative?
Maybe that's the plan. Lure everyone into a false sense of security with the premise of "deliveries". Then, once the tunnel network is in place - BAM - instant pivot to a subway company! Suddenly public transport everywhere! The communists will have won before anyone even knew what hit them.
