City Approves Transit Expansion
The council approved three new transit lines on a nine-to-four vote after a hearing that ran past midnight, ending a debate that has occupied the chamber in one form or another for the better part of two decades without ever reaching a binding decision.
Bonds issued by the transit authority will cover roughly two thirds of the projected cost, with the remainder drawn from a state matching fund that lawmakers renewed earlier this year over the objections of the rural caucus, which wanted the money spent on highway resurfacing instead.
Two members who voted against the measure have asked for an independent audit of the ridership projections before any bonds are issued, and a third said she would support the audit even though she voted in favor of the expansion on the merits of the eastern alignment.
Construction on the first line is scheduled to begin in March and to reach the eastern terminus in four years, though the authority has cautioned that the schedule assumes it can acquire the last right-of-way parcels without going to court over the price of two industrial lots.
The county commission still has to ratify the cost-sharing agreement, a step the mayor's office describes as a formality but that at least two commissioners have said they intend to use as leverage for a station stop that the current alignment leaves out entirely.
The vote clears the way for construction to begin next spring on lines that will connect the eastern suburbs to the downtown core for the first time since the original system opened, when the eastern edge of the built-up area stopped several miles short of where it stands today.
Officials estimate that the first of the three lines will carry passengers within four years of groundbreaking, assuming the environmental review now underway concludes on schedule and the authority is able to acquire the last of the right-of-way parcels without resorting to condemnation proceedings.
Opponents argued that the projections rest on optimistic assumptions about population growth in corridors that have seen very little new housing built since the last comprehensive plan, and that the authority has historically overestimated demand on precisely the kind of suburban extension now proposed.
Transit advocates who packed the chamber called the vote long overdue. Earlier proposals collapsed over disputes about which neighborhoods would host maintenance yards and how the costs would be shared between the city and the surrounding county, whose commission has yet to schedule its own vote on the funding agreement.
The authority's chief engineer told the council that early utility relocation work could begin as soon as the environmental review concludes, and that the agency has already begun the procurement process for the rolling stock it expects to need by the time the eastern line opens for revenue service.
A spokesperson for the mayor said the administration considers the funding agreement settled and does not expect the county commission to reopen the cost-sharing formula, which was negotiated over eighteen months and signed by both executives before the council took up the measure this spring.
Construction is expected to begin in March, pending final environmental review.