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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.
i agree, lifeontwowheels. i about had a stroke when i read the comments following the article on nbc.com. people don’t realize that: 1) the focus of Obams’s stimulus was to provide funds for green/transportation/infrastructure projects and 2) we cannot function efficiently as a large metro area (we’re not a small town anymore) unless we embrace some of the things that make a larger city work (i.e. good public transport and a burgeoning downtown).
it continues to frustrate me, and i withhold hope that i don’t need to move back to chi-town to live a happy urban life.
I’m slowly reaching that point. If I had moved here for school, instead of growing up here, I can almost guarantee my bags would be packed by the door awaiting my degree and a job offer in another city.
The response also may be effected by the way the question is framed. “Should light rail be the focus for the city of Columbus when using federal government stimulus money?” That makes it sound like the city will be getting $200 million dollars and then can spend it anyway they want. Some people may be thinking well either the city could build LRT or put more police on the street and continue free garbage pickup and things like that when in fact the only way the city would be getting that money is if it could be investing in infrastructure.
Yep, the question is VERY poorly worded, especially considering a huge portion of the people posting comments on that site don’t understand light rail OR the stimulus plan.
As to an organized campaign, it wouldn’t be the first time. There was a very organized campaign opposing the streetcar, it was quietly formed but very verbal once it was.
I love the headline as if highways and aviation don’t take even more $$$$:
Light rail runs on a whole lot of cash, advocates warn
Requested federal money would cover a fraction of the proposed railway
Saturday, January 10, 2009 3:07 AM
By Debbie Gebolys
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Reignited plans for light-rail transportation are sketchy right now, but at least one thing is certain: Everyone in the region likely will be buying a ticket to ride.
Central Ohio Transit Authority President William Lhota and Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman are hoping that President-elect Barack Obama’s economic-stimulus plans will deliver a $200 million shot in the arm to regional rail plans that have suffered a series of stops and starts spanning several decades.
But even if the stimulus money comes through, local and state money must follow. The state’s budget is drowning in red ink, and Gov. Ted Strickland flatly opposes any tax increase. Local voters likely would have to chip in with higher sales tax at some point to make rail possible.
The last time COTA talked about building a rail line was in 2006. It was called the North Corridor and was to run from Downtown to the Polaris area, with a cost estimate of about $640 million. The Ohio Department of Transportation pledged to pay a fourth of that and 50 percent was to come from the federal government.
Officials are hoping Obama jump-starts work on a nearly identical 13-mile route.
But ODOT’s cupboard is now bare, and inflation hasn’t been kind to transportation projects. So how much will it cost and who will pay for it?
Lhota said the 2006 estimate is no longer relevant. A team of COTA executives working to revive rail plans says part of the new plan could be cheaper.
A hybrid streetcar/light-rail car that COTA officials just learned about would cost less than light-rail vehicles and would weigh less, too. That means they’d require less time and money for rail foundations than light-rail cars do and go faster and carry more riders than streetcars do.
But COTA’s just begun to explore the possibilities. Four COTA executives have worked part time on rail ideas over the past four to six weeks. The transit authority won’t assign a full-time team to rail unless Obama’s stimulus money comes through, perhaps as soon as next month.
With so little detailed information, “it would be imprudent to arrive at some ultimate cost,” Lhota said. But the specter of where local money would come from looms anyway.
“We will ultimately have to come up with the local resource,” Lhota said.
A statewide task force recommended to Strickland this week a 13-cent increase in state gasoline taxes to pay for transit projects. But the governor won’t raise any tax, Strickland’s spokesman Keith Dailey said yesterday.
“This recession has hit Ohioans squarely in the pocketbook,” Dailey said. “We’re all struggling through this challenging time.”
COTA Vice President Marty Stutz said Strickland’s position on taxes won’t stop rail plans.
“We have never assumed that there’s going to be an increase in the gas tax,” he said. “I know that’s a proposal, but that’s all it is.”
Read more at:
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/10/MoneyTrain.ART_ART_01-10-09_B1_2NCGE6I.html?sid=101
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/10/MoneyTrain.ART_ART_01-10-09_B1_2NCGE6I.html?sid=101
More from the Dispatch. Apparently they are looking at a newer type of rail car system lighter than traditional light rail, but able to carry more passengers than traditional streetcars.
Great minds think a like.
If there is one thing that’s going to kill the project, it’s the responsible journalism.
Also agreed on the wording of the question…very misleading.
But did you also see reporter Mikaela Hunt’s story on NBC 4. Lazy reporting in the guise of “we-get-get-answers-for-you-the-viewer”. She spends a quarter of the story with video of her trying to get an interview with Mayor Coleman, insinuating that Coleman is ducking the question…when he has already clearly stated his position. Gee, Mikaela, do you think you could have spent that time giving us some substance on the LRT proposal, instead of your mug on the phone with an aide to the Mayor.
Reason 3,123 why CU is fast becoming my main source of city news.
I agree that the poll question on NBC4 is poorly worded.
But you know… with every other city in the country putting together proposals to obtain some of this money, and the poor economy effecting all corners of the US, I wouldn’t think public reaction in other cities is somehow any different. The shunning of rail transit development is not something unique to Columbus.
But I don’t live in any other city…
It’s a valid point, however I know I have seen some positive comments by people here on how the news media of those cities are covering the proposals. For whatever reason, it seems our media has a very skewed approach to anything like this.
Shocked is all I can say about the people who posted comments on NBC’s article. Do they not understand that this is only part of the whole. I know Coleman &co. has to understand the east to west mobility is just as important as north to south. However this is the best way to get started. Stimulate our economy everything like schools police all that good stuff will come because of the project, Helllo ” Ifyou build it they will come”
you should go with “the wirtz” and ill stick with columbusdreamer. I dont love any other city as much as this one.
o and there was a comment of NBC that said we need to look at all the construction companies that will benefit from this.
…any government contract for construction goes to the lowest most responsible bid. No one company knows if i will benefit until it gets the contract. Thats for all contracts issued by any form of government.
not to mention dreamer…I’m failing to see a problem with construction companies benefiting from [i]the economic stimulus package[/i]!!!
Isn’t that the entire f’ing point?!?
Could we find out as soon as Monday if Mayor Coleman’s request is included in Obama’s stimulus package?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/01/stimulus-legisl.html
To me this proposal seems poorly planned and is missing a vital component to constructing successful light rail. The line appears to be going up High St. serving local trips, prematurely cuts over to the tracks along I-71, and continues up that way serving more spaced out stops appearing to be aimed towards more park and ride style work trips; such as Cleveland’s heavy rail line.
So people riding it to work will have to go from an area of few stops to an area of frequent stops, which, I assume, will be heavily used. The top half of the route is meant to serve drivers coming off the interstate, with park and rides near major on/off ramps. The design of the route works perfect if you want to move people to campus and the Short North from the north central area of the city. Really it doesn’t look attractive for work trips.
Secondly this proposal seems to ignore a primary reason why public transit is so poor, land use policy and development. Without a plan to change land use around the stations and some sort of support by developers I have a feeling the proposal will seem lack luster. Why do we need land use change? Well to have a built in rider base living near the stations and create a place to travel to. I know this first proposed line runs through Columbus and the city may be able to change their land use to support such initiatives but the suburbs need to be willing to do the same for future lines. $0 is being put towards this and the new transportation priorities initiative for the State was seemed to has been ignored by the Governor.
As much as I would like to see light rail constructed in Columbus, I am not sure the proposals are strong enough and that the priorities are correct. Columbus needs to change the minds of the Public first and foremost.
One promising thing to look at is that COTA will put a full time staff together for a light rail if the funding is there.
What you’re seeing now is Columbus Light Rail, 1.0. By the time all is said and done, it will probably be tweaked enough to answer the questions.
But yeah, one of my concerns is the High St. stretch. How it will function with the bus routes there, how it will interact with traffic, whether it will have signal priority to enhance service, etc.
The good thing is that we have an expanded route on paper that is slated to cover 13 miles instead of 2. We also have a handful individuals with the mayor’s and other officials’ ears, so some of the comments here and elsewhere may be taken into consideration. Hopefully, like the streetcar working groups, there will be some public involvement to constructively move this along.
lifeontwowheels Says:
A few comments up you and gmcsoccer mentioned moving. I’m just saying that you’re going to be disappointed if you expect to find some magical city out there where there’s no naysayers on projects like this.
…except for all the cities that already have them built LOL!