RENO, Nevada — The present effort to build a railroad trench through downtown Reno began in 1996, when the federal government approved the merger of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.
City officials feared the merger, coupled with the expected expansion of the Port of Oakland in 2003, would greatly increase the number of trains running through downtown — up to 36 a day — and said lowering the tracks through downtown would alleviate traffic jams and unify and revitalize downtown.
City officials say that without the trench, more trains will cause traffic congestion and impede emergency vehicles.
City traffic engineers say vehicle idling time at 11 intersections will more than double from 188 to 473 hours.
But the project has polarized the city.
Opponents say the city has not considered other, less expensive alternatives, such as street overpasses, and fear that cost estimates and revenue projections for the project are flawed.
City officials say the 2.1-mile project will cost $231 million and comes with a sound financial package, including a $60 million pact with Union Pacific and $104.8 million from an eighth-cent sales-tax increase approved by Washoe County Commissioners in December 1998.
The city began collecting the tax in April 1999.
Critics say the city’s estimates fail to account for moving a storm drain, maintaining the trench and handling water and other potential environmental problems.
Some critics predict the costs of the project will exceed $400 million and contend the city’s revenue estimates are overly optimistic, saying the financing won’t add up to $200 million.
Many downtown businesses also predict that construction of the trench will disrupt and probably ruin many downtown businesses at the same time Indian casino development in California threatens their livelihood.