And then go to cities that implemented lightrail and bike lanes and got rid of some car parking to do it. Talk to the business owners there. None of them have recovered to anything like the preconstruction levels of business... And those are the ones who survived the long closure of the road to put it in.
At least, that's the takeaway from the metro nearest me. At least they got a couple of shiny new luxury apartment buildings out of it. Maybe the hope is to gentrify all of the poorer businesses out to be replaced with hipster shops that won't complain.
I drove through the area I'm thinking of a few weeks back. Maybe 40% of the businesses that were there before are gone, but much has happened in the past few years.
I know of 5 that definitely closed because of it, at least 8 more that were torn down (including a grocery store and a Walmart) to put up a field for a soccer team right on the line (which may or may not have been built without the light rail going in). 3 more that I can think of didn't make it to COVID, but they were probably struggling beforehand and might not have survived anyway.
At least, that's the takeaway from the metro nearest me. At least they got a couple of shiny new luxury apartment buildings out of it. Maybe the hope is to gentrify all of the poorer businesses out to be replaced with hipster shops that won't complain.