D.C. trip clears the air on light rail
Posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/30720/
BENTONVILLE — A delegation of local leaders returned from Washington, D. C., last week with a clear idea of what’s involved in considering a light-rail system in northwest Arkansas.
U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., invited the group to hear about the federal process required for starting a transit system in the region. Twelve local leaders visited the nation’s capital Jan. 25-26. "Well, the purpose of the meeting was really to explore all the avenues concerning light rail and then just to touch on transportation in general," Boozman said. "We tried to bring in kind of a who’s who of the people who authorized projects like that. … We really asked questions about, if we wanted to pursue this, what are the steps?"
The meeting, he said, was excellent: "There was a lot of dialogue back and forth."
Steve Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, agreed. "Boozman set up a fantastic group of people that understand the process," Luoni said. "So I thought that was all very productive."
The delegation heard from representatives from the Federal Transit Administration; the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships; the Senate Banking Committee; the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee/Highway, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee; and both the Senate and House Appropriations staffs.
The meeting addressed two big questions: funding issues, and what to do next.
The group learned that in order to pursue any type of federal funding, an "alternative analysis" is necessary, said Scott Van Laningham, executive director and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. "It would be a study of the light rail versus a more mature bus system, or something that they call rapid bus transit," he said. Perhaps this region does not need light rail, but some other form of alternative transportation. "You don’t need to jump to light rail," Van Laningham said. "Maybe it is additional lanes on (Interstate) 540 dedicated for high-occupancy vehicles — and then the bus would take that and deliver people directly to two or three locations in Bentonville or Springdale or the airport. The alternative analysis basically looks at all those alternatives," Van Laningham said.
A full alternative analysis could cost $1.5 million. Such a study would gauge public support, need and the possibility of a dedicated local tax.
The federal government could probably fund 50 percent to 80 percent of such an analysis, with local entities paying the remainder.
Finding funding for the analysis would also reveal public support for any transit system.
If roughly $700,000 could not be located, then how would the community plan to support a light-rail system costing nearly a billion dollars? Boozman asked rhetorically.
If, after the analysis, light rail is the recommended option, the community would pursue funding through the New Starts program. New Starts is an FTA program in which the government acts as an investor in regions that want to start new transit systems, Luoni said. "I think about 45 regions have applied for new starts in the last 15-20 years," Luoni said. Previously, the federal government would provide 80 percent of the capital cost of a transit system. Because of such competition, the government can now only provide about 50 percent of that cost.
The responsibility now lies with the community leaders in northwest Arkansas.
Boozman called the meeting a good first step. "And the second step will be making a decision: Do we want to go further, (and) if we do, that would involve the alternatives plan, which again, doesn’t commit us to anything."