CFE 111201 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

News & Observer(Print Friendly) : http : //www . . . news/triangle/Story/832092p - 821552c . html http : //cgi . newsobserver. com/standing/help/tools/_scripts/friendly-print . cgi news r rX Published : Wednesday , October 24 , 2001 4 : 51 a . m . EDT TTA closing in on rail proposal for federal OK Funds , station sites and more to be pinned down By BARBARA BARRETT , Staff Writer For years , Triangle residents have been hearing about plans for a regional rail system that would whisk commuters from home to work . Beginning today and continuing over the next two months , the Triangle Transit Authority will make choices that could determine whether the first train ever leaves the station . The agency is finishing its application to the Federal Transit Administration for nearly $ 340 million to help pay for the system . If the paperwork that TTA sends in the spring doesn ' t read just right , the money might not come through . No money , no rail line . " It ' s everything , " said TTA trustee Rachel Willis , an associate professor in American studies and economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , of the coming decisions . " It ' s absolutely critical . " In short , the choices to be made in the coming weeks will define exactly how the rail system should look : where the stations will go and when each would be built , how many tracks the trains would use and how often commuters could catch a ride . Trustees also have to settle on their financing plan for the next decade , showing the federal government convincing evidence that the agency will be able to help pay for the rail system through transit taxes and rail fares . TTA has spent nearly a decade researching station locations and funding options . This summer , the agency received more than 200 written and oral public comments at a series of meetings on the rail proposal . Now the agency must compile all its information into a federal application that could run more than 450 pages . The first phase would include 16 stations between downtown Durham and Raleigh . Expansions to Raleigh - Durham International Airport , northern Wake County and Chapel Hill will be considered in future applications . Trustees , who are appointed by local governments in Wake , Durham and Orange counties , will hold a daylong workshop today to determine the exact locations for the stops in Raleigh , Cary , Morrisville and Durham . A vote is expected on stations that have no opposition , but decisions on controversial sites might not come until December . Neighbors in the historic Raleigh neighborhood of Boylan Heights , for example , think one of the proposed stops would bring too much noise and visual clutter to the community . And residents looking at the redevelopment of the Few Gardens public housing project in east Durham are debating the best site for the Alston Avenue station . " By no means is it a done deal , " said Jim Ritchey , TTA' s general manager . " There are real complexities in a project of this magnitude that have to be worked out before it can go forward . " For the Federal Transit Administration to offer the money , it has to agree that it shares TTA' s views on financing and construction . But if the federal agency learns of controversy , it could be much less inclined to invest the needed dollars . So recent conversations have been focused on quelling any disputes over the rail system and its details . Duke University had refused to allow a stop near its medical center on Durham ' s Erwin Road , for example , but TTA officials recently persuaded the school to let them include the station in the federal application . "There was a point at which they didn ' t want to be included in Phase I , " Willis said of the Duke station . Now , she said , " it might be built last , but it can be built as part of this process . " Still , problems remain on other details . Aside from the concerns about where to put the rail stops , TTA hasn ' t reached a final contract with the N . C . Railroad to use the corridor . The two sides came to an agreement in the spring and expected to sign off on it in May , but that hasn ' t happened , said Bill Bell , director of the TTA board of trustees . " Before we get FTA [ approval ] , we have to have assurances we can operate in the corridor , " he said . " We haven ' t gotten that yet . " 1 of 2 10/30/2001 2 : 38 PM