As a planned regional rail system to connect the Triangle moves forward, a decline in the tax revenues funding the project is forcing officials to make hard decisions about what the system should look like.
Ideally, the Triangle Transit Authority Board of Trustees would like to see Phase 1 of its regional rail system--with trains running every seven-and-a-half minutes over 16 stations from North Raleigh to Durham--ready to begin service by 2007 or 2008, said TTA board chair Bill Bell. But some of the TTA's funding comes from taxes on local car rentals--which have slipped along with travel nationwide in the wake of Sept. 11.
That drop means the project's first phase might not be completed by the target date. "Because of the financial impacts, we are having to reassess that," said Bell, also the mayor of Durham. "Right now, we'd really like to see us be able to do Phase 1. [But] honestly, it doesn't appear that we're going to be able to do that at that point."
At a meeting last month, the board heard a list of alternatives to deal with the declining revenues: delaying the beginning of service for Phase 1, running trains only every 15 minutes or postponing the construction of some of the 16 stations, such as those in North Raleigh.
Bell said the board is still deliberating over which of these alternatives to take.
"[First] we're going to try to make a decision on the station stops," he said. "Once you make that decision, then you can look at what the financial impact is and then that drives your revenue requirements and [how often to run trains]. That determines whether you're going to be able to do it in 2007, 2008 or whether it will take longer."
Implementing Phase 1 as planned could cost the TTA--which anticipates obtaining about half its funding from the federal government, a quarter from the state government and a quarter from local taxes on gasoline and car rentals--about $745 million when adjusted for inflation, said senior TTA policy analyst Kim Crawford.
In October, the board of trustees approved 10 of 16 proposed sites for Phase 1, in Raleigh, Cary, Research Triangle Park and Durham--one downtown and one on Ninth Street. The six other sites include three more stops in Raleigh, one in Morrisville and two more in Durham--one near Alston Avenue in North-East Central Durham and another near the Duke University Medical Center.
The board has not yet approved the Medical Center stop because TTA and University officials are still discussing its location, said TTA transportation planner Juanita Shearer-Swink. The University objected to two locations that the TTA had originally suggested, leading the TTA to consider instead a site on a railroad spur that crosses Hospital Drive near the Medical Center's helipad and a location on Elba Street, north of Erwin Road.
"The current discussion or consensus between Duke University Medical Center representatives and TTA staff is that we are not in a position to make a final decision on which of those two alternatives would be the better alternative," Shearer-Swink said.
Tallman Trask, the University's executive vice president, said the Medical Center is starting to develop a new master plan, which will influence the choice of stations. He also mentioned a third alternative, one near the junction of Fulton Road and the Durham Freeway, that Shearer-Swink described as less desirable. But he said the University is "not wedded" to any of the stops--at least for Phase 1, where the Medical Center would be the end of the line.
"The real question in terms of the station location is not really this phase, it's, OIs there another phase?'" Trask said. "We are prepared to be the end of Phase 1."
But Phase 2 of the TTA's plan calls for a connection between Durham and Chapel Hill--either by extending regional rail service from the Medical Center stop, which Trask said would be difficult, or by means of a separate, light rail system or via bus service, Shearer-Swink said.
"One of the things about this [regional rail] project is that it's really the beginning of a very large network of transit systems or it has the potential to be the beginning," she said.
Mark Ahrendsen, transportation director for the city of Durham, said officials from Durham and Chapel Hill are still considering their options but are leaning toward the option of bus service between the two municipalities--either over special lanes constructed for buses only or along the lanes of existing roads. "The city's plans, as envisioned in our 2020 comprehensive plan, clearly call for a density corridor and high-level transit service along the 15-501 corridor," he said. "While the bus lane/bus in mixed traffic is, I guess, the most promising technology, local officials wanted to revisit the technologies."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.