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Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman attended a news conference this morning in Virgina along with several other mayors and governors to hear President-Elect Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus plan to boost the nation’s economy.
Coleman has recently written a letter to Obama seeking federal funding dollars for a variety of economic development projects in Central Ohio, including:
- $32 million for development in RiverSouth
- $26 million in Targeted Industry Cluster Job Creation
- $63.9 million in LEED Certified Infrastructure Development
- $12.6 million in Carbon Footprint Reduction
and………
- $200 million for the development of a new Regional Rail Project
The brief overview of the new regional rail project describes it as a combination of the “best elements” from both the previous North Corridor Light Rail Proposal and the more recent Downtown Streetcar Proposal. The new passenger rail system is being proposed to run northward from Downtown to the Delaware County Line with a combination of on-street rail grades and right-of-way railroad tracks.
The city has already partnered with MORPC and COTA on the preliminary work for this project, and it is being called the new “first step” towards a more comprehensive regional passenger rail network.
More details will be posted as soon as we get them. Stay tuned.
lazyfish Says:
January 9th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Can someone help me understand how the light rail system connects from the railroad tracks to High St using 18th avenue? Isn’t 18th one way and not a direct shot to High St?
The plans were for the LRT to have two stops on High adjacent to OSU and then be led over to the CSX tracks for the suburban leg of the route. The tracks actually go up 16th and out to 18th then connect to the CSX tracks from there.
What about 11th which is at least a direct route and takes commuters by the fairgrounds?
11th meets High at an acute angle and would have required acquiring more right-of-way and a reconfiguration of South Campus Gateway.
BTW – COTA was working on the LRT as late as 2005-2006 … and had been trying to convince Central Ohio that LRT should be looked at as an option since the late 80′s, maybe sooner. I was at OSU in the late 80′s and remember a proposal going on the ballot back in the day.
Hell I remember many efforts to build a pro stadium/coliseum/arena for 20 yrs, it took Nationwide to step up privately to bring the NHL to Columbus … we Central Ohioans are a cautious bunch (maybe too cautious, though I do believe pro parks should be privately funded).
Any thought to have the LRT not routed through OSU and allow it to continue on CSX tracks into the CBD, and allow a Streetcar to handle the CBD to OSU route with a multimodal station at 18th? Or is it a matter of building this plan out and make a modal split at some future date?
The way I see it travel times on the LRT will be great until they hit the portion of the route which shares street ROW.
When are we going to see E-W planning instead of N-S?
Shouldn’t the airport be a #1 priority (aside from waiting around for 3C)?
This isn’t really a Bill Lhota question, but I would think that a plan for City Center is something that should be front and center for suckling at the Federal teat. Not only is it needed, but it something likely to see a payoff faster than rail.
What about S of Downtown? I know the 70/71 split re-do makes this hard but w/o planning for the <i?whole city, this becomes more about a money grab. Yeah for playing the game. Boo for planning.
I might be wrong, but isn’t the population growth more in the NW side of things? Delaware city-like? Should a rail solution take this into account?
What are the plans to integrate access with current and planned areas of attraction like Arena/Huntington, Grandview Yard, River South or (speculatively) Whittier?
None of these are to indicate I am not in support of the idea, but they are some tough questions that are going to come up. Particularly with the E-W axis and the overall perception that transportation planning is too upscale focused while the rest get COTA’s dregs.
A.
Wow, I shot over to that NBC link and read some comments …. what a mistake. I have this argument with some people at work all of the time, and I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of people in the suburbs are just misinformed. Usually after I explain the facts to them they realize they’re wrong, but unfortunatly the damage is already done by them spreading false truths. Frustrating.
BTW …. my favorite guy (who I wish I had face to face) was the guy who said Mayor Coleman failed as a mayor because this money isn’t going other places …. sorry bud but you failed as a citizen. Please read what the stimulus plan entails before saying such stupid things as that. It is Obama’s plan to invest in alt. transit options … it just so happens that we have a Mayor who sees this as an opportunity.
I agree with Andrew Hall … whole city solutions and E-W connections need to be made. Major props
One more , slightly aggressive, question:
(And I realize there isn’t really a “plan” out there) What exactly is new in this plan or did someone just dust off two old plans and stitch them together?
In particular, a lot has changed/fleshed out since this light rail plan was floating around . Gateway and Campus Partner’s plans to develop that greater area. Grandview Yard. Northland gone, Easton growing and the commercial center in that area shifting East. Huntington Yard. Birth, growth and death of the Peach District.
A.
Why do some folks think infrastructure has to be inorganic? How about the human infrastructure? Isn’t a health center as important as rehabbing the police shop…isn’t housing the homeless and building affordable quality housing as worthy as more roads for the NW part of town. The problem is that most traditional infrastructure is subsidizing white color design firms and construction firm owners….someone is gonna get paid from these projects and usually it is the politically well connected…look at home much money ODOT wastes landscaping the side of a roadway only to redo it every 5 to 10 years…yep those firms are political contributors to the pols’ campaigns.
How many times has High street been resurfaced then torn up for some utility work, resurfaced and then torn up again….I guess after the latest roadwork is done on High street, it will be repaved in time to be torn up again for light rail.
My mantra is going to continue to be, fund people not things!
As far as the link to German Village, I attended a streetcar meeting where Mayor Coleman specifically said that there cannot be a line to the south until the 70/71 split is finished. All in due time.
Are the areas around the proposed stops on the northside already zoned, or will they be re-zoned, to accomodate to high-density, mixed-use development?
Also, if track is laid on High St., as is now proposed, from 18th to Downtown, would a streetcar be able to run on the same track should plans change in the future (ie light rail is diverted from High and extended all the way to the Convention Center, with the streetcar picking up the slack)?
I’m not sure what this means in the Dispatch article: “Although the system would follow some of the streetcar route proposed by Coleman, light-rail and streetcars aren’t the same. Streetcars run on tracks laid in the road. Light-rail cars also run on their own tracks. Light-rail cars can travel 60 mph, compared with 40 mph for streetcars. Trains can link up to three cars with 250 passengers. Single streetcars max out at 40 passengers, officials said.”
Everyone needs to go to Change.gov and tell obama that this is what we need. i already did. I am wildly excited for this to come true.
does anyone have another prelimanary map. Im a visual learner
While I agree that human capital is infrastructure that needs investment (from various levels-state, local, federal).
I would argue that this particular stimulus bill is not the vehicle to get that done.
This is a one time investment, those types of investments require long term support. We can’t fund rec programs, capacity development, youth development for a year and then close up shop. Those initiatives require steady and sustainable long term funding.
This is funding for an economic stimulus package, although its infrastructure related the primary goal is immediate job production. That’s why rail, roads, buildings and other “brick and stick” investments will come first. They produce jobs faster.
And I think shifting federal funds to this light rail line provides benefits to those human investments in the long term.
Think about the benefit of shifting the cost burden of the previous street car from the city to the feds. Thus allowing the city to focus more of its support on funding these other vital programs.
Plus if structured properly the job benefits from these investments could directly benefit those who are economically marginalized. (For example, LA’s use of community benefit agreements to gain local support for the construction of the staples center).
A map for the dreamer:
http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/light-rail-on-columbus-wish-list/
Thank you to the wirtz
I like that. I might change my screen name to “thewirtz”
Meanwhile, Toronto (transit city) is planning an additional 120km of light rail:
http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects_and_initiatives/Transit_city/index.jsp
thewirtz:
your personal blog should be titled “thebest of thewirtz”
^LOL. That’s not far off from an old HS volleyball cheer created by my clever teammates. “You’ve got the best, but we’ve got the Wirtz!”
NBC4 has an on-line poll about the light rail plan and it is running way in the negative…which makes me think there is a campaign out there to skew the results. I cannot believe that over 80% are against it.
If you want to vote, here’s the link…
http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/
You can’t? I can.
This town just wants to make me bang my head against the wall some days. I mean people actually want Columbus to grow and remain strong, right?
Some days I think people just want Columbus to be some kind of real life Mayberry. I should go to Skreened and get a “Andy Griffith for CPD Chief” shirt made.
Ok, deep breaths, deep breaths. Yes, we should debate any plan and look at the positives and negatives. We should probably just ignore dumbass polls like that. But I am just amazed at the people here in Columbus…