What I'm saying is that the times dictate decision making (see: master planning). You're comparing a city that arose in the mid 19th century to one that began to flourish well after the automobile became the dominant form of transportation. We're talking 60 years after GM (or rather, a conglomerate of automobile corporations) bought the railroad and trolley companies in LA and dismantled the infrastructure for asphalt roads. Development in Anchorage happened without consideration for rail lines or efficient bus routes. Why think of bus lines when we can just add lanes to relieve congestion?

It is also extremely difficult to compare commuting to a bedroom community with the rest of Anchorage. You're talking about a geographically constricted corridor with a poorly thought out transition (i.e. stoplights between the Glenn and New Seward). As much as that drive sucks, I guarantee rush our wait times are nothing like Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta or L.A. (barring winter accidents and construction).

You're preaching to the choir concerning wanting public transportation; anyone who has lived or visited somewhere with transit quickly finds the joys in it. It makes life easier, putting some individualistic responsibility and putting it on society - affordably helping everyone. Imagine a city without neighborhoods with nothing but garage facades and driveways. You could walk to your local grocer. Bike to the park without crossing 80 feet of uninterrupted dangerous asphalt intersections. Ride the train from downtown after a night of drinking.

I guess what I'm arguing is that it is easy to decry the state of things and write it off as poor urban planning. You've said it yourself, though - what constitutes thoughtful urban planning today might be thought of as a series of poor decisions thirty years from now.

Also, to reinforce the closing of my last post; I would guess that this city cannot support the level of transit investment comparable to Portland simply because it wont exist long enough to make it worth it. What kind of population could Anchorage or Alaska support without the oil fields? I would love to have buses running <consistently> every 10 minutes with awesome coverage. I would use that. But we'll never see rail running to and from the Valley to ease congestion. They'll build a bridge and sprawl over wetlands before that.