Coleman Asks For $200M For Light-Rail System
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Colemans Asks For Light Rail Funds
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is asking for $200 million from the federal government to build a 13-mile light rail system.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is asking for $200 million from the federal government to build a 13-mile light rail system in Columbus as part of a $334.5 million economic stimulus package funding request.
Published: January 8, 2009
Updated: January 9, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is asking for $200 million from the federal government to build a 13-mile light rail system in Columbus as part of a $334.5 million economic stimulus package funding request.
In a letter sent to President-elect Barack Obama last week, Coleman said his proposal would integrate the best elements of the 2006 North Corridor Light Rail Plan and the downtown streetcar plan.
The federal funding could provide for 70,000 jobs, officials said.
Tell us your thoughts on Coleman’s request and what you think by posting a comment blow.
A total project cost is not provided, and Coleman’s letter said the remainder of funding will be requested through federal, state and local sources to be determined over the next two years.
The proposed light rail system would stretch through the Short North, The Ohio State University campus and past Polaris Parkway.
Patrick Preston: “Is light rail the city’s top priority?“
Councilman Andrew Ginther: “You’ve got a couple top priorities. Light rail/mass transit is one of them.“
Ginther said that at a time when the city faces a nearly $96 million budget gap for 2009, the city needs new jobs and new tax revenue.
“The best way to help short- and long-term is to put people to work so they can pay income taxes on the jobs they’re doing,“ Ginther said.
Other major funding requests include:
- $26 million to renovate the old police building in downtown Columbus.
- $25 million to improve the infrastructure around Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
- $20 million for roadway and park improvements in the River South District.
But all other projects combined don’t add up to the investment the city is asking for in building a light rail system.
“Light rail/mass transit is where we need to go as a city and a region,“ Ginther said.
Coleman traveled to Washington, DC Thursday to take part in a briefing with Obama, alongside several other mayors and governors.
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The $200 million Coleman is asking for is coming from a part of the stimulus package that is ONLY to be used for TRANSIT projects. And these have to be “green” public transit, thereby it would be silly ask for more diesel consuming buses or other petro fueled vehicles that add to our already poor air quality. Also, Mayor Coleman could not use this money for police and fire operations, rec centers, personnel costs, etc. Asking for a rail system is one of the only things we would have a true chance of getting a piece of the transit portion of this stimulus plan to create jobs here in Columbus…
This $200 million will help to construct a significant portion of the system (no one knows for sure how much at this point cause it hasn’t been designed). Unless you like toll roads, operating costs of transportation projects will ALWAYS be subsidized by local, state, and federal government… Thats what our tax money is for, maintaining the publicly owned systems that we all use to get around. Think about your tax money that goes to maintaining our streets, sidewalks, roads, highways, etc. At least with rail, a big part of the operating costs are paid for by the fare box….
Answers to many light rail questions:
http://www.columbusunderground.com/bill-lhota-answers-your-light-rail-questions
This should be on the news…
Nothing downtown, that’s for sure. It’s not like we have 3-4 institutes of higher learning; several museums; multiple job centers (like say Nationwide); shopping doesn’t exist at all-I mean we haven’t seen in NYT articles praising the Short North immediately adjacent to downtown; we don’t have any sports venues-I don’t know where to go to see football, hockey or baseball; God forbid I would want to see ballet or symphony performances.
Yup, nothing at all downtown…
I will say that I have lived and worked in and in proximity to downtown for the last 3 years and have had no issues with crime. Crime is a fact of life and you can find it anywhere, even in the suburbs. Downtown and Columbus offer wonderful opportunities and a diversity that is hard to replicate outside the outer belt. Unfortunately our local media plays to the fears and sensationalizes anything “bad”.
Just because YOU may not use something, doesn’t mean others won’t. I don’t own a car, but I recognize the importance of the various projects that are down to improve traffic flow in the city and improve our quality of life. We spend the same, if not more, for those stretches as the proposed rail projects. They are subsided by the government to the same extent mass transit-often more subsided due to the in equality in funding.
Mayor Coleman is about to ask for money from the feds we could use in so many other ways. We do not need a 12 mile track costing $200 million dollars. First off there is nothing downtown to go to. The sidewalks roll up after dark, no shopping and too much crime to get my family down there. Another thing, building new city and state office buildings when so many empty buildings are sitting is rediculous and wasteful.
Down with the light rail.
Everyone, both pro and con, needs to read the Saturday January 10th Columbus Dispatch article: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/10/MoneyTrain.ART_ART_01-10-09_B1_2NCGE6I.html?sid=101
The $200M from the Federal government represents 1/3rd or less of the total cost of bringing light rail to Columbus. The rest must come from State and local coffers. Mayor Coleman, when were you going to come forward with this bit of news?
There are a lot of misconceptions in this and until we see the full plan, there is not much to comment on.
That said:
This isn’t money that has a stipulation of either spend on this or that. It’s for infrastructure improvements. Especially those that will go to help a city reduce it’s dependence on oil based transportation.
Why the Northern route? I imagine in no large part the empty rail line sitting north of 18th is a large reason. Using the existing right of ways and creating shared usage partnerships with current freight operators go a long way to reducing the overall cost if you aren’t laying a lot of track.
Why so few stops? That’s how rail works and why so many of us want it here. It’s designed to move people quickly and efficiently over a large area. Look at any other light rail system in the country and it works exactly the same.
Buses and rail? No reason they can’t co-exist. Just as COTA recently tweaked the routes, it can be done again. If this were to go through, rail could help reduce a lot of the congestion issues that currently plague the High St. lines, since the rail cars could carry higher volumes. The current lines could be tweaked to run fewer stops through that area, which would improve service times south of downtown and north of OSU. If rail takes over some of the bus line, current buses could be moved to other routes to increase the number of buses serving an area and decrease the overall times.
laughingatcmh…Yeah, right. Your county is almost as corrupt as Franklin. Ever hear of Al Myers? Delaware County commissioners? The Sheriff’s department’s boondoggling $200,000 assault vehicle purchased with Homeland Security money? Ever deal with their law enforcement and court system? It might as well be East Redneck County, Mississippi. Just ask Judge Sunderman before he locks you up for not having a fishing license. Delaware County south of City of Delaware = yuppies. North of there, Hicksville.
Franklin county whatg a bunch of cry babies. You have a mayor who is thinking of the future. Tyr to cut the carbon footprint but no one wants to jump onboard. Look at other major cities they all have light rail or even rail service. People complaining about who will ride it is people like me who comes to columbus to see medical and other business reasons. I live in Delaware County and Columbus has seen fit to try to suck the county (Polaris Area) in the cith limits. So stop your belly aching and get into the 21 century now. This economy is so bad we have to start somewhere. I hear no other viable starts from anyone else.
If a light-rail system is such a great idea, why are we not hearing from private enterprise to invest in this type of project. No doubt it would be marketed effectively and would be run efficiently. Why does the government always feel compelled to involve itself in public transportation that requires public funding? Can anyone say, “GRAFT!!?“
the thing that annoys me the most is that some politicians just don’t get it, safety of this city should always come first, why couldn’t mayor coleman ask for money to put more cops on our streets, and money for more jails and prisons, more money for schools, firefighters,you hear about crime everyday in this city, you hear about schools needing maoney , but hey let’s not worry about the little people, let’s worry about the rail system.
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