12-02-2020, 09:03 AM
For people who don't live in KW, or who have only come here recently, it's tempting to look at ION in isolation - that is commonly how transit is planned elsewhere, after all. The thing with ION, though, is that it was a ground up comprehensive urban planning process. In brief, the justification grew out of transportation models that predicted unsustainable levels of investment in road construction in order to support projected growth. The plan was the creation of the so-called central transit corridor and the development of a comprehensive strategy involving economic development, zoning changes, and transit changes that all worked together to support more growth in that core area. ION is the most visible result in that process, but it is only one part of it. Looking solely at ION without understanding any of that broader context is like looking only at the engine of a car and pronouncing it a failure or success solely on its power without considering its purpose.