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| Yosemite Valley proposal https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12692 |
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| Author: | bobyar2001 [ Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Yosemite Valley proposal |
Ran across the on the Yosemite Valley RR discussion group. This plan has been around for several years. Apparently the project is still active, though it is unclear when this was originally written, as I think it mentions the new milenneum in future context. From: "Ted Hogan" <yvrr@elite.net> Add to Address Book To: yvrr@LServ.Com Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 11:47:58 -0800 Subject: [YVRR] Revised Yosemite Park Plan Comments March 22, 2005 Superintendent Yosemite National Park P.O. Box 577 Yosemite National Park, California 95389 Subject: Draft Revised Merced River Plan/SEIS The National Park Service (NPS) has begun revised scooping activities regarding a comprehensive Yosemite Valley Plan, which will borrow heavily from several previous plans, including the Draft Yosemite Housing Plan, and Draft Yosemite Valley Implementation Plan. The Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) is dedicated to reestablishing rail as an alternative public transportation link to Yosemite National Park. In prior correspondence to NPS, we took issue with the quality of transportation elements in both the Housing and Valley Implementation Plans. Specifically, we found that none of the plans adequately dealt with the full range of regional transportation alternatives available, and, perhaps more importantly, failed to preserve the ability to provide other transportation alternatives at a future date. We are expressing this opinion and providing this information in the hope that you and other leaders within the Park Service Planning group take serious consideration of a future rail system in your scooping process. The added benefit of this rail system would enhance the transportation structure for the New UC Merced Campus. As the map would indicate it would be a direct connection to the Campus on La Paloma Rd. to the Amtrak system and the proposed High Speed Rail ,to include future Airport facilities at the former Castle Air Base. Technical Memorandum #3, of the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation Strategy (YARTS) included the following summary: "The rail alternative supports most of YARTS criteria except for two key criteria. The most important issue for the rail mode is timeliness for implementation. . Additionally, the rail alternative would likely be developed in only one corridor, . However, there is a long-term potential for rail transportation to Yosemite . ." [YARTS Technical Memorandum #3, May 15, 1997, page 19.] Consultant transportation experts came to the same conclusion at the 1996 Yosemite Park Transportation Symposium. Their recommendations included references to the historic precedence of the YVRR, which operated in the Merced River corridor up to El Portal from 1906 to 1945. We strongly encourage that whatever plan you might consider, it would include a feasibility study for future rails. Transportation plans are required to be comprehensive. The initial NPS efforts and YARTS studies were comprehensive, but the resultant plans are not. This approach seems to be the antithesis of transportation planning practiced elsewhere in the United States, where diversity in modes and methods is typically embraced. Yosemite is the 'Crown Jewel' of America's national park system. We live in the most technologically advanced country in the world founded on the entrepreneurial sprit. We are on the threshold of a new millennium. And, the best alternative we have to the automobile for the next 20 plus years is a regional public bus system? While we support a regional bus system proposal as part of the solution, by itself, it is a bland, status quo response that lacks imagination and fails to add the journey as part of the Yosemite adventure. Now that the National Park Service will recommence a revised plan for the valley and region, we think it's important the rail alternative be recognized in the NPS plan. We are not suggesting they study the alternative in exhausting detail at this time, but we do believe that the option needs to be recognized because decisions will be made over the next several years that may preclude forever the ability to develop such an alternative. The ultimate decision to build rail transportation to Yosemite will be competitive and will necessitate the combined efforts of private and public organizations including local, regional, state, and federal organizations. Not an easy task. The Yosemite Valley Railroad, a nonprofit (501)(c)(3) group encourages support from the NPS to do a feasibility report on such a rail system to better serve the public. Not only for passenger service but for freight possibilities and waste hauled out of the Park to a remote location. In closing, we applaud and support the Park Service for the steps it is taking to achieve GMP goals by proposing to implement a very progressive plan for the Park. We know that there are a broad range of perspectives to address, which complicates the planning and slows implementation of changes. However, with specific reference to the transportation elements of the plan, we cannot support any of the alternatives proposed. The level of detail necessary to fully understand the transportation elements of the plan, the plan's failure to reflect the diversity available in transportation services, lack of a long-range perspective, and failure to relate to other Park transportation needs, sets the tone for our recommendation that the National Park Service planners expand the range of alternatives as it relates to transportation. Sincerely, Ted Hogan, President Yosemite Valley Railroad Co. Ted Hogan, President, Yosemite Valley Railroad Co. P.O. Box 606, Merced, CA 95340, http://www.yvrr.com/ America's most important rail project- Get involved!! |
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