President George W. Bush submitted a $2.57 trillion budget proposal to Congress Monday, leaving out funding for the Triangle Transit Authority’s proposed commuter rail project.
TTA still plans to break ground on the Raleigh-to-Durham rail line later this year, despite being excluded from the national budget.
The 28-mile route will include 12 stations, one of which will be located at the corner of Erwin Road and Ninth Street.
John Claflin, TTA’s general manager, said that his organization is working to allow Duke students to use their DukeCards to pay for train fare.
No one will be riding the train, however, until someone pays for it. The U.S. government previously allotted $80 million for the $631 million project, but TTA is still expecting much more federal funding. Claflin said that he expects the federal government to fund 50 to 55 percent of the total cost.
TTA is banking on more appropriations from Congress later this year to help pay for the project. Other federal funding is expected to roll in if the TTA gets rated, or evaluated favorably, by the Federal Transit Authority.
The FTA has questioned the TTA’s long-term predictions for area traffic congestion, one hurdle blocking the project from being rated. Claflin said TTA’s estimates come from a “complex model that looks at demographic projections.”
“It’s really very futuristic,” he said of the contested model. “It is predicated on what is going to change in the next 20 years. It’s a black box. It’s a mystery when you get right down to it.”
Proponents like Claflin say one of the major reasons necessitating the rail line is the increasing Triangle traffic congestion.
John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative state watchdog group, said that some estimates predict that in the near future driving from Raleigh to Durham by bus will take as long as four hours and 20 minutes.
Hood thinks the rail line is unnecessary, however, saying that people would adjust to the slow bus system by finding other, more efficient ways to get to work.
“It is absolutely asinine to suggest that someone would commute 9 hours a day,” he said. “They won’t do it. They will change their lifestyles and locations.”
Although most Duke students in the future will probably not use the train for a daily commute, the rail could offer students a new way to get off-campus.“This will be a connection for [Duke students] to downtown Raleigh, other campuses, the state fairgrounds, the RBC Center [and] Cary,” Claflin said. “It gives students more options.”
Despite the multitude of cultural and political landmarks in Raleigh that could be within easy reach, some think the rail will primarily appeal to students’ desire for parties rather than the capital’s educational attractions.
“I know you like to drink up there; I read it in the papers,” Claflin said. “[With the rail line] you can go to downtown Raleigh and drink and not drive.”
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