New Train of Thought

Yesterday, the Kansas City Star had an article about the "congestion" along 69 Highway in Johnson County.  I was struck by two things in the article.

#1) The traffic numbers on this highway are currently at the same level as they were projected to be in 2020 -- which means sprawl in this area has been at a pace significanly higher than expert projections.

#2) It costs a lot of money to widen roads.

The current estimation for the widening of the highway from 4 lanes to 6 to handle the increase traffic (as well as improving a few interchanges) is $450 million. This highway is currently under construction as a new interchange connecting it to I-435 is being done (again, to improve traffic flow) at a cost to taxpayers of $165 million.  This is $615 million that is being projected to improve traffic flow on this corridor.  This, in a metropolitan area that has more highway miles per capita than any other metro in the country.  And it's getting worse.

What I don't understand is why at no point has putting a commuter rail service in been discussed.  At a cost of about $30 millon per mile (which is a conservative #, but probably pretty doable on this treck because of public access to a commercial rail right-of way along the I-35 corridor), $615 million would more than cover the cost of running a light rail line from Union Station in downtown KCMO, all the way to Corporate Woods -- this 17.1 mile stretch would get people from this area to downtown, and covers nearly the entire length of the proposed highway widening. Union Station would then be easily accessible to KCMO's MAX bus line that goes to most major points of the city.  And when the timing was right, an East/West line that ran along College Boulevard could connect this line to major corporations like Sprint/Nextel, Embarq, and Yellow Freight -- as well as the Overland Park Convention Center Complex -- at minimal incremental expense. 

At some point, we're going to have to look at rail transportation as a legitimate option for our city and our suburbs.  We're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on widening highways that is leading to more and more suburban sprawl.  A rail line, once in place, is inexpensively expandible to handle more traffic by increasing the number of trains and cars. 

The general opinion is that people in Johnson County won't ride public transit. This is true -- as long as we continue to widen roads every time there is a little congestion.  But let's face it, if a light rail line can get them to their destination in 40 minutes, and it takes 60 for their commute, they're going to consider it a viable option.  Especially with gas prices over $3 a gallon.

Maybe it's not feasilbe.  But they should at least LOOK at it as an option.  JOCO could become the leader in the metro in providing commuter rail for its residents, and a leader in the metro for environmentally friendly transportation.

It's forward thinking.  It takes a bit of a leap of faith, but at $450 million, people need to think about exploring more efficient growth in JOCO to handle the sprawl in this city.

Comments

[Ray Hyde]

So 650 million would build 17 miles of commuter rail. Experience telss us that at most 5% of the population will actualluse commuter rail. That means that it is 95% more expensive than the same amount of money spent on road improvements, which nearly everybody uses.

You can only increase the number of trains and cars so much. pretty soonyou run into the same problems cars have: congestion, and insufficent parking. Also you have th problem of trains being longer than the station platform.

At some point, we're going to have to look at rail transportation as a legitimate option for our city and our suburbs. When we do we should look at it with a cear eye, and not as a panacea.

[Brent]

The problem is Ray that they're not even considering it at this point. They're considering spending $650 million without even looking at any other options...

Maybe it's not the best idea right now...but it's a lot of money to not even consider other options...

[Rob]

At some point, people who don't want to live closer to downtown will stop working downtown. They will look for jobs in places that are easier to commute to. Businesses will follow the flow of employees away from downtown (as has previously happened) ((okay, so they followed tax breaks too))

I agree that light rail isn't the silver bullet, but I think we all agree that larger roadways aren't the answer. Eventually parking will become a bottleneck downtown (or prohibitively expensive)and we are back to the situation above.

In many major cities where people wish to live outside of the beltline, people ride rail systems in. It's not the only way, but it's a economical way for them to travel.