Strickland says 3C Corridor needs $250 Million
From wtte28.com:
Ohio governor says rail project needs $250M
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says the state could restore passenger rail service with $250 million in federal stimulus money. The governor also estimates it would cost $10 million a year to operate the service, less than 1 percent of Ohio’s $7.6 billion, two-year transportation budget. Strickland says the plan would create up to 6,000 construction jobs and other service-related jobs at train stations.
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Related Tags: 3c corridor • amtrak • Development • federal stimulus • ohio hub • passenger rail • strickland • Transit • transportation
March 14th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Apparently we should live in Porter, IN or Kalamazoo, MI if we want stimulus bucks spent for rail nice and easy like. If only we could catch up with those booming metropoli…metropolises…hmm.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/14/obama_boosts_amtrak_funding/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7
March 14th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Heh…Porter, IN…
If it was a choice between not having rail service and living in Porter, IN I’d be willing to forgo the trains. (and I really really really want to see better rail.)
March 14th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
It’s a LOT less money than is being dumped into that relatively tiny 70 / 71 split, so what’s the problem?
March 14th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Is there a pay pal account for donations yet
March 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Yeah, compared to the numbers that have been tossed around for the 70/71 split and the High St. streetcar, $250 million doesn’t sound like much money for a project this big.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
passenger rail in a heartbeat! i rarely drive the 70/71 split.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
What’s wrong with the 70/71 Split? (yeah, I’m out of touch) I drive it all the time, have for years and years, and rarely does it have any major issues.
My vote goes to passenger rail.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I hope this happens, just like everyone else here. I have my doubts, but will try to remain optimistic this time.
I honestly don’t think 250 million is all that much for a transportation project. It also falls in line with shovel ready projects, the ability to create jobs and overall enhance the economy in Ohio.
We are fortunate to have a governor who supports the 3C corridor!
March 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
If we are talking about “free” stimulus money being pumped into our local economy, I’d take $1.6B for Columbus over $250M for the State.
If the dollars are coming directly out of my pocket via local taxes, I’ll take neither.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Rail!
They should have to alot 1% for the arts like with public buildings.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I’m confused. Is the $250 mil actually the projected cost for the 3C to start up?
March 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
@lifeon That’s what it sounds like to me.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
KMShay Says: If we are talking about “free” stimulus money being pumped into our local economy, I’d take $1.6B for Columbus over $250M for the State.
Just to clarify… the State of Ohio was granted $8.2 Billion in federal stimulus, and ODOT was granted $935M for highway project funding.
What Strickland is requesting is an additional $250M out of the $8 billion federal pot for rail projects across the country.
So from my understanding… if Ohio is not requesting any of that specific money for rail projects, it’s all going to simply go to other states’ rail projects. It’s not going to be used for anything else within our state.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Is this still being decided in the state senate? When is the vote? If everyone here wants rail, those are the people you need to call. http://www.allaboardohio.org/cms/index.php
If we don’t let them know, Ohio will never get this money.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I wanna ride the choo choo train!!
March 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I wish we could get that stupid 70/71 split “fix” killed and use that money to build the 3-c rail and an entire SYSTEM of streetcars/light rail in Columbus and we would probably still have some left over to re-pave something.
Hell, I drive the “split” every day and it’s just not bad enough to make it worth sinking over 1.5 Billion bucks into “fixing” it. It’s not bad at all actually.
March 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
You may have seen this but it shows what has currently been approved broken down by state then municipality, project type, cost, jobs, popularity, etc. http://www.stimuluswatch.org/
Obviously this is stimulus dollars only.
Does anyone have a link to the study on general public acceptance of the 3C project? I’m sure they are out there.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I agree, I wish they’d kill the “fix”. No one in Columbus wants it because it is going to make downtown a disaster. Like all highway projects it will be a “if you build it they will come” solution. The more we invest in highways the more people will use them meaning that, in a few years we’ll be back asking for billions to “fix” it again. Instead we could invest in rail which is way more sustainable and way less expensive than personal auto traffic.
As Walker explained this isn’t exactly an either/or situation but money is money and we will all end up paying this money back one way or another.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Didn’t Nashville build a 20-30 mile commuter rail system on 40-50 million using used rolling stock?
Following that model a billion would go a long way here.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
CbusIslander Says: “Is this still being decided in the state senate? When is the vote? “
It is being debated in the State Senate right now. Currently H.B. 2 was voted out of the House of Reps. on partisan lines with passenger rail in it. Amendments to H.B. 2 are due to Chairman Patton’s office by Monday at noon. The next committee meeting is Tuesday.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Walker, In addition to the $8 billion available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act there is an additional $1.3 billion available from the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, so there is a total of $9.3 billion.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
KMShay: The best study to date on the project is this
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Rail/Programs/passenger/Pages/OhioHubOverview.aspx
It is woefully inadequate and the stats are old. Ohio just commissioned a new study from Woodside Consultants that is due by August.
March 21st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
“Didn’t Nashville build a 20-30 mile commuter rail system on 40-50 million using used rolling stock?”
900 rides a day are taken on that line. Assuming most users purchase a round trip, only 450 people a day actually use the line. Coulda done better.
March 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
The ridership of the Nashville Music City Star may seem low, but it was built as a very limited suburban commuter. It runs from the burbs into downtown twice in the morning, and then runs from downtown to the burbs twice in the evening. Weekdays only. That’s a total of 10 round-trips per week that this line makes.
The train has a seating capacity of 750 passengers, which means that the maximum ridership it can handle is around 3000 rides per day. (Or 1500 round-trip riders per day.)
So I’d say that an average of 900 rides per day on that particular system isn’t a bad average.
Still, I don’t think it’s good model either for a suburban Columbus Light Rail line, or for the 3C Corridor unless we’re really looking to do things in a very limited capacity on a very shoestring budget.
March 21st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
They are predicting an initial ridership of the 3C route to be 1,400 riders a day.