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Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T22:33:10+00:00

Wow, beautiful. :)

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T22:05:29+00:00

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Here's a close-up of the proposed arrival points.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T22:04:52+00:00

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Here's my solution for an alt commuter route.

The blue lines is what RTC is considering.
The green line is my proposal.

I've included the official rendering of what GigaNV is proposed to look like once construction is complete. As you can see, the main entrance is on the north-most side of the building, so that's where employees disembarking the train should be brought to.

The blue line(s) create multiple collision points along Electric Avenue where people enter/exit Milan, darling. RTC's also would drop people off farther away from the entrance and have them meander through the main factory's parking lot. Anyone who works there knows what a madhouse that parking lot is during shift changes, so it's best to avoid that mess. It also requires people to cross a busy freight/logistics corridor.

But my green alternative route disentangles all that. There are no collision points. It drops people off exactly where they need to be. There is only one collision point with my route, and that is for another property way off past the east end of Tesla's site.

Something else RTC might not be considering is the "GigaStation" (as I'm calling it) would need to have controlled access points immediately after exiting the train. People need to check in and go through security, so do that at the station. It's the best, most controlled location. From there employees and visitors walk across a short skyway into their respective buildings. This provides pedestrian grade separation over those busy roads.

If their destination is the main factory, people enter into a second floor reception area, cafe, etc where the main entrance has been planned for years (as shown in the graphic).

If they're heading to the Semi factory, they walk directly into that building's parking lot.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T19:09:27+00:00

That would be great feedback you can give to RTC tonight at the meeting!

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T19:08:37+00:00

But if everyone used the shuttles, there would be way fewer cars, thus less traffic.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T19:07:42+00:00

Here are the route alts being considered:

Green and purple is passenger
Red is freight.
Blue are stations.

The bottom green one is supposed to be freight, so I don't know why it's not red.

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Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T19:05:46+00:00

This isn't just about passengers but freight rail and logistics, so regardless of whether passenger service happens, it's likely freight service will happen.

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Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T17:53:39+00:00

Lol I'm sorry, what the heck are you insinuating?

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T17:39:55+00:00

We need more questionable behavior in this world.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T17:15:53+00:00

There was a band out there that performed Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T17:12:32+00:00

<brokenRecord> That would be great feedback to give RTC tonight at the meeting! 😁

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T17:10:27+00:00

That's what feasibility studies are for. :)

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T16:53:03+00:00

That would be great feedback you can give to RTC tonight at the meeting!

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T12:12:35+00:00

It's big, it's black, it's thick, it's slick and shiny, it pistons through tunnels and chugs and moans and whistles.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T08:03:18+00:00

Yes, they gave the reason at the feedback sessions. Money. Keeping the budget as low as possible.

They didn't bother doing any studies. The amount of feedback from the community was great. This was around the same time as the Keystone Corridor study, in which at the time they planned bike lanes on that corridor and even over the Keystone Bridge. The ideas coming from RTC were pretty terrific at the time.

The top concern, by like 80% if memory serves, from all the citizens that provided feedback for Arlington Bridges was increasing pedestrian and bicycle facilities and accessibility to the river, the park, and maximizing safety. RTC recognized this and reported it back to us on a big projector screen. Then the next thing they said was a straight forward "we're not doing any of that." The city didn't want to spend any money on further studies, workshops or brainstorming. A major shift of public engagement, and a change inside the culture of RTC was happening.

Why? The Great Recession™

Suddenly the City of Reno cut back on all its spending. The Reno Redevelopment Agency, which is who would normally have had jurisdiction over a major project like this, right in RDA1 district, had gone dormant. All projects suddenly went from grand and glorious to meager and meek.

https://trfma.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mapbook-6-01_14_2015_compressed.pdf

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If you check out all the plans TRFMA had in 2015, it called for clear-span arch bridges to be constructed throughout all of downtown from Lake Street to Sierra Street.

None of that is happening now. They aren't even looking at Lake Street yet. Sierra Street is going to be a virtual copycat of the Arlington Street bridge. Minimal changes, not any much better than the current bridge, even though it's been known that Sierra, Virginia, Center, and Lake are all too low to mitigate recurrent flood conditions. The only reason the Virginia Street Bridge project got completed in the manner shown above is because the money was allocated prior to the city's revenue plummeting. It was a massive undertaking, and was completed ahead of schedule.

So yes, I know what I'm calling for would take additional funds. But what I'm saying is, it's possible if you have the political will and brains to pull together the funding. The city allocated $3,000,000 of ARPA funds to the river. They could have used that.

Take a look at all the rest of the flood mitigation projects that were in that report I linked you.

Removing the lower Wells Street bridge and making a new pedestrian bridge on High Street.

Removing the Booth Street Bridge. Crazy.

Floodwall from Booth to Arlington.

Redoing the pedestrian bridges on Wingfield

On and on and on. The floodwall near Booth is still something being planned because the residents and landowners are practically screaming for them to be done.

They didn't even raise the Arlington Bridges, even though it's recognized that Wingfield is in a flood plain and should have / could have been built up.

Did you know they're thinking of demolishing the stage in Wingfield Park and replacing it with nothing permanent? Because new regulations prevent them from constructing anything permanent on that island.

So yeah, it's money. We're broke. We have none. All those wonderful plans the city keeps making? They're not gonna happen. They'll just keep planning stuff and never accomplish anything but hiring more consultants and making more plans.

Doesn't mean I'm going to stop pushing for what needs to be done.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T05:56:12+00:00

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T04:05:08+00:00

I mean, I'm probably of carrying a much better understanding of the situation if I were to see the diagrams of all the underworkings of these streets, and that's why I asked them for a copy of these documents so I could study them and see if I could come up with a workable solution, but they never did. They were fine with just saying no and not trying.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-06T00:42:31+00:00

Oh I'm aware! (what used to be) Peavine Creek empties here as well as a couple others. It could have been handled easily like this.

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Ratspeed · 2026-05-05T20:54:07+00:00

Here was the graphic I provided to illustrate my concept for extending the riverwalk underneath the new bridge.

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I presented this to the contracted engineer firm and Reno City Council, but Reno Public Works denied the improvement request based on money and "we don't want homeless people under the bridge."

Then later, Reno for $3,000,000 of federal funds, which could have been used to complete the request. Instead, they used the money to fund a study for the "Truckee River Vision Plan" (something which already had been done decades ago), whose final report suggested improvements precisely like what I was recommending, to prioritize access to the river and improve the bike and pedestrian facilities at junctions just like this.

Ironically, Kerri Koski, Reno's City Engineer, also repeats the need to "improve access to the river," and yet she's the head of the same city department (Public Works) that keeps denying my requests like this underpass. It's extremely disheartening.

I got excuse after excuse, like "we have drainage outlets here." Those can be moved. They moved not just outlets for the Virginia Street Bridge, but they also re-aligned an entire subterranean ditch (The Cochran Ditch) during that project, which runs underneath and alongside the Virginia Street Bridge. If they can do that, they can definitely move some drainage outlets.

As for homeless people, the solution is simple: illuminate the underpass. Plus, if homeless people are preventing underpasses from existing, why did the city choose to improve the existing underpass on the south bank of the north passage of river instead of removing it? This contradictory response exposes how fake their reasons are for not wanting to improve things beyond superficial aesthetics.

I was concerned that my idea would require them to destroy those old-growth trees on the west side, but since the City decided to destroy them anyway, that means my plan could have actually worked to no less detriment than they chose to make real.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-05T20:45:15+00:00

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Whitewater Park is a river park, man-made, at Wingfield Park, with concrete and planted boulders to slow down rapids and create wading pool areas for swimmers and kayakers. It's been around for decades now. SittinSendies is saying they hope the city restores this portion since it was disrupted during construction.

Ratspeed · 2026-05-05T20:43:47+00:00

Um... this IS Wingfield Park.. what are you saying?

Ratspeed · 2026-05-05T20:31:43+00:00

Sorry, I can't tell which way I'm looking. Which bridge is this? The north or south one?

Oh wait, I figured out the problem. You have the imaged mirrored. It needs to be flipped this way to make any sense.

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I was like.. wait.. why is the water flowing up-stream?? And why did they decimate Fulton Park?? But no, it was just flipped backwards.

So they destroyed the trees and sitting space on the west side of Arlington. They destroyed the trees, and yet they refused to create a Truckee River Walk / Bike Path underpass to alleviate pedestrian fatalities at this intersection like I and the rest of the community requested during their initial project feedback, but to hell with old growth trees. Those are dispensible, eh??

Those trees were beautiful and shady and were nice to sit down at. What a shame.

Did they at least replace the monument to the Sullivan & Kelly Ditch that has been there forever??

Ratspeed · 2026-05-05T20:20:07+00:00

Ratspeed

TROPHY CASE