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It is noteworthy that among 22 ARRA federal stimulus funded rail-related projects approved by the Ohio Rail Development Commission members yesterday includes $7 million dollars for the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) of 4 of the 7 Ohio Hub high-speed rail corridors: Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati, Cleveland-Pittsburgh, Cleveland-Toledo, and Columbus-Toledo.
This is a separate funding issue from the funding for the conventional-speed (79 MPH) start-up service in the 3-C Corridor…. and did not need legislative approval, since the funding was already in hand as part of over $700-million in ARRA stimulus funds allocated to ODOT for transportation projects statewide.
With the Commission vote ORDC staff can now administer those funds and get the environmental review process underway. The process is slated to take 2 years. Once complete, it means the state would be come eligible for federal matching grant $$$ for high-speed rail projects.
The 3-C start-up will be part of the state’s funding request for the second round of federal stimulus dollars.
Linking Ohio through the power of rail
BY: RANDY SIMES, 5/19/2009
Imagine traversing the state of Ohio with an array of high-speed trains connecting Cincinnati to Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour (mph) within the next 10 – 15 years. That’s the goal of All Aboard Ohio, a non-profit advocacy group working to establish a modern, consumer-focused, statewide passenger transportation network that provides Ohioans with safe, efficient and cost-effective travel choices.
READ MORE
Stu,
Is there an RFP out for consultants to do the EIS?
The RFP’s are being handled through ODOT.
It’s a sad state of affairs that C-Bus, the 16th largest city in the nation, is not served by rail service. I’m hopeful, but not terribly optimistic in these efforts to bring us into the 20th century (and help us progress in the 21st). Obviously, the easy excuse this time will be the financial crisis.
PS- Next time someone groans that rail is not profitable, remind them that none of the roads in central Ohio are profitable either.
^ You’ve got that right…. but we will hear that argument against passenger rail anyways from the idealogues…. who will rarely apply the same “standard” of profitability to highways or aviation. And when it comes to their argument that we should be spending $$$$ in hard times, I would only respond that in good times you should invest in infrastructure that moves the economy… in bad times…you MUST.
You mean like this?
I think Mr. Welch just made a great argument for better intracity transit, lower Amtrak fares and perhaps tolls on the Interstate. Nice.
PS- Like the interstate highway system, these routes would serve to connect Columbus to all major cities, not just Cleveland and Cinci.
“I would only respond that in good times you should invest in infrastructure that moves the economy… in bad times…you MUST.”
There have been times we have disagreed nooz, but that is one of my favorite quotes ever on C/U.
TOTALLY 100% agree.
Thanks. As somewhat of a history buff, I have always felt that we would not have been able to lift ourselves out of the Great Depression and prepare (soon after) for World War II, if not for the investments made in infrastructure during the New Deal Era. I see much the same need now if we are both to recover our own economy as well as better compete in the global one.
lifeontwowheels Says: You mean like this?
Someone wrote a rebuttal.