RALEIGH, N.C. — Forget about the antitax activists and transit critics who say the Triangle Transit Authority’s $721.9 million rail system should not get off the ground. The future of regional rail in the Triangle depends largely on 535 people, the vast majority of whom do not even live here, the raleigh News & Observer reports.
The TTA wants the federal government to foot half the bill for its rail system. But the agency is competing for money against dozens of other fast-growing and congested cities, including Charlotte.
Congress ultimately will decide which trains will leave the station. Only a few transit systems will get the money they want when they want it, or when they have promised it, experts said.
“Everyone can’t win,” said Steven Polzin, a research director at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida.
The Triangle Transit Authority wants to build a 35-mile rail system, shuttling self-propelled, diesel rail cars between Raleigh and Durham by December 2007.
Charlotte is pursuing a $371 million light rail system from its downtown core south to the city’s Outer Loop 10 miles away. Trains would start running in 2006.
Both are expected to make formal applications for federal funding next year. So could more than 30 other cities across the country seeking a total of $17.9 billion. Dozens more are studying light rail, commuter rail or busways, and will seek money in the future.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago, would you be doing this kind of planning, I would have said no,” said Lee Myers, the mayor of Matthews, located at the end of a busway proposed by Charlotte’s Metropolitan Transit Commission.
“But now I see the future,” he said. “I have seen lanes widened from two to four; I have seen a bypass built; I have seen I-485, and there is still congestion.”
Demand has so quickly outstripped allocations that, according to a recent report from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, “federal resources are not available to fund even a fraction of these projects.”
That two of the contenders are from the same state shouldn’t hurt either’s chances. “If you want to argue that way,” said Rep. David Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, “there’s no transit system on the list ever from North Carolina. If someone wants to argue whether we’re overdue or not, the answer is, we certainly are.”
So who gets the money? Technical merits help — strong ridership projections, low operating costs, a solid financial plan with high local commitment, supportive planning that encourages high-density development around transit stations — but that’s not the whole story.
A powerful congressional delegation is just as important. Each year, the Federal Transit Administration makes recommendations about each project being planned, but Congress can, and has, ignored the agency and rewarded transit projects that the FTA has snubbed.
“Congress, of course, has the ability to give the money or not give the money,” said Beth Day, a community planner for the FTA. “It’s completely up to them.”
Both the TTA and Charlotte projects have positioned themselves well in one respect: They are both asking the federal government to finance 50 percent of construction, with the rest of the money split between state and local sources. Other transit systems that are seeking as much as 70 or 80 percent in federal funding are not likely to fare well.
Some competition will also drop out of the running, and some projects are relying on local revenue sources that might not materialize. “It’s not uncommon that as time passes, local politics change, local priorities change,” Polzin said. “Some projects do go away.”
TTA officials are confident of their prospects.
John Claflin, the agency’s general manager, said the rail plan is cost effective, particularly considering the length of the system, much longer than most fledgling rail lines; and the Triangle’s population boom and poor air quality will work in its favor.
In its recommendations for the current fiscal year, the Federal Transit Administration rates the TTA’s project as “recommended,” giving it credit for its efforts to promote high-density, transit-friendly development along the rail corridor and a “thorough” capital plan.
But the federal agency graded the TTA’s capital financing plan as “medium.” The TTA plans to use money from a 5 percent tax on rental car receipts in Durham, Orange and Wake counties to pay for its share of the project, and those revenues have been flagging because of a downturn in air travel.
Charlotte, which has a flush local funding source, a cheaper first phase, strong transit-supportive land use plans and a more unified, cooperative approach to transit, has earned a “highly recommended” rating.
In 1998, Charlotte voters approved a half-cent sales tax to fund the system, now estimated at $2.9 billion. The tax rakes in about $50 million a year, compared to the TTA’s $7 million from the rental car tax.
Jerry Blackmon, an engineer and businessman in Charlotte who led the committee that promoted the tax measure, says it is important for both regions to work together when going after federal money.
“We need to help each other. I look at it as North Carolina might be competing with Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania or California. There are good reasons for the federal government to support two systems in North Carolina. Just look at the growth.”