Texas Transit Association

Three articles on passenger rail development in Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

*Houston*

Metro may need help cutting in funding line
Skyrocketing demand could delay plans
By LUCAS WALL Houston Chronicle March 22, 2004

WASHINGTON — Two obstacles are threatening Metro’s ability to implement its aggressive rail-expansion plan: political gridlock over federal transportation spending and competition from dozens of other cities that are ahead of Houston in the line for transit grants.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County needs $420 million in federal funds over the next six years to proceed with the light rail portion of the 22-year “Metro Solutions” plan, which voters adopted in November.

In one of the nation’s most ambitious rail-expansion plans, the agency expects to begin building extensions to Northline Mall, the East End, southeast Houston and the Galleria area during the period through 2009.

But, cautions Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas: “With the shrinking pool of money, that’s going to be a challenge.”

If the federal cash doesn’t start rolling in soon, the groundbreakings set to begin in 2006 probably will have to be delayed.

“As much as we can get at the front end, the less it requires us to hustle to get at the back end,” said Metro Chairman David Wolff. “I am confident that when (the appropriations process) concludes, there will be ample federal dollars to implement Metro Solutions.”

Metro is late to the trough, however, and the outlook is hazy.

Congress forced Houston to pay for its first rail project — the $324 million Main Street line that opened Jan. 1 — entirely with local funds because House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, objected to the lack of a public vote. There now are 62 transit projects in 28 states and Puerto Rico that have filed for grants from the Federal Transit Administration, including light rail lines in Dallas and El Paso and an extension of Galveston’s tourist trolley.

For fiscal year 2005, which starts in October, the FTA recommends splitting $1.53 billion among about half those projects. Houston expects this summer to join the line for fiscal 2006.

While demand skyrockets, mass-transit projects around the country could run into trouble if the federal government freezes FTA construction grants, as President Bush proposes in his six-year, $247 billion transportation reauthorization. The last transportation bill, which authorized $218 billion, expired in September and has been renewed temporarily until next month as Congress battles with the administration over funding.

The Senate passed a bill last month authorizing $318 billion for highways and transit. A House committee has drafted a $375 billion plan it will consider this week. Also on the table at Wednesday’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee meeting is a $275 billion proposal from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Funding proposed by Bush and Hastert wouldn’t “even cover the cost of inflation, and yet there are all these new projects in so many cities now that want to see their public transportation systems improved,” said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.

In addition to the 62 projects already submitted to the FTA, he said, “perhaps more than 100″ others are being planned, including Houston’s.

Wolff, chosen by Mayor Bill White last month to oversee Metro policy, said he hopes to see the pot of federal transportation dollars enlarged. Bush and other Republican leaders, however, have vowed to hold the line, concerned about the nation’s record-setting budget deficit.

“Compared to some of the other ways we are spending money in this country, this is something that creates jobs, improves quality of life, cuts dependence on foreign energy,” Wolff said.

Demand for federal matching funds has risen rapidly in the past decade as many cities — plagued by sprawl, traffic congestion and air pollution — seek to begin rail systems. Ten years ago, cities such as Dallas raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from Uncle Sam, often covering only 20 percent of construction costs with local tax money.

FTA records show that in 1992, 16 projects had requested grants. By 2000, the number exceeded 60. Localities receiving federal funds now must often match them dollar for dollar, as Metro plans to do.

Houston’s biggest advantage: Thanks to passage of last fall’s referendum, the local congressional delegation finally is unanimous in working to funnel rail dollars to the Bayou City. Although it has yet to submit its application, Metro hopes the delegation will use its clout to score a $70 million head start this year.

“We haven’t received the federal funding that cities a fifth the size of Houston have,” said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston. “We need to get funding authorized this year but also every year after that so we won’t be shut out.”

Metro is relying on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, to help it cut in line.

Hutchison, a longtime rail supporter who sits on the transportation appropriations subcommittee, said she is determined to earmark $90 million to $100 million beyond FTA recommendations over the next six years.

DeLay and fellow rail critic Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, have dropped their opposition to MetroRail funding but want the transit authority to go through the FTA approval process.

“When they comply with the FTA criteria, then the process starts,” DeLay said, adding he still doesn’t like the rail expansion because “you’re taking huge amounts of transportation dollars to move a very, very small percentage of people.”

Culberson said he can’t support Metro’s $70 million request this year because the FTA has not had a chance to confirm that it meets the “standards expected nationally of rail systems.”

If Hutchison adds the appropriation in the Senate, however, Culberson said he would not try to strip it from the final version.

Shirley DeLibero, Metro’s outgoing president and chief executive officer, said the money needs to start flowing right away. Metro lost out on $162 million in matching funds by paying for the Main Street line on its own, she noted.

*Metroplex’s DFW Airport*

PROPOSED D/FW HIGH-SPEED RAIL
D/FW Airport waiting for rail connection
By Bryon Okada
Star-Telegram Mar. 22, 2004

D/FW AIRPORT - When Dallas/Fort Worth Airport’s plodding passenger trains halt service next year, the tracks that snake along International Parkway will be destroyed and the land will be preserved.

The train is already closed to the public, but airport workers can ride until the SkyLink people mover starts running.

The track land will be saved for future commuter trains, light rail trains — and possibly real American bullet trains — to whisk passengers to and from D/FW terminals and connect them to other major Texas cities and beyond.

“It’s already part of our planning process,” said Jeff Fegan, the airport’s chief executive. “You won’t see us putting a building there, or an inadvertent pylon in the right of way.”

Transportation officials envision someday linking the region’s current and future passenger rail lines to the heart of D/FW. Connecting different transportation modes — air, rail, roads — is a key to seamless travel in big cities.

In plans to create a statewide system of passenger and freight travel, Gov. Rick Perry has advocated using several forms of rail, including high-speed passenger trains. Last month, North Texas transportation leaders expressed support for an American bullet train to D/FW.

“We’ve already worked out the alignment,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. “It’s over Airport Freeway and east of International Parkway. We’re basically in the Texas 360 corridor.”

Under current plans, outbound trains would speed under D/FW’s south crossover taxiway, rise onto an elevated track, then shoot over Texas 183 and through Arlington on what is now the Dorothy Spur to a new transit station on the Union Pacific line.

South of Interstate 20, the track would return to ground level, connect with Perry’s 4,000-mile, multimodal Trans Texas Corridor and head south toward Austin, Houston or wherever.

The proposed high-speed route is supported by the Regional Transportation Council, the metropolitan planning organization for the Metroplex. However, it would not mesh with plans for the Trans Texas Corridor, which emphasize routes that skirt metropolitan centers.

But linking to the Trans Texas Corridor could — if the political winds prevail — bring quicker environmental clearances, design streamlining and the possibility of federal funds, officials said.

The land preserved after the airport train’s demise will allow for a two-way track, Fegan said. A long straightaway along D/FW’s SkyLink track between Terminal D, opening next year, and the future Terminal F will be home to the airport’s transit station, nicknamed the 13th Station.

Proposed links to the airport would include a commuter train on the Cottonbelt line, stretching southwest through Tarrant County to Fort Worth and northeast to Collin County. Also included would be a light rail line linking D/FW with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system.

The Trinity Railway Express on the Rock Island line is already operating, and Morris said he believes that more system parts can be built and operating during this decade.

The DART line, originally envisioned to reach the airport in 2012, may be delayed a year or two, Fegan said last week after meeting with DART officials.

Building the 13th Station would take at least two years, Fegan said.

But airport officials say they will be ready as soon as construction begins on the links to the airport.

“Rail into the airport to link up with the SkyLink, our new people mover, is one of our highest priorities in the decade ahead,” D/FW board Chairman Max Wells said.

*Metroplex Light-Rail*

4 cities to lobby for DART in DC
Money for expansion of light rail could help development, taxes
By SCOTT STAFFORD / The Dallas Morning News Thursday, March 18, 2004

With a $700 million funding request before Congress this year, DART officials are turning to Dallas, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Addison for help.

Officials from all four cities will head to the nation’s capital March 30 and 31 to plead their case for light rail.

“That funding is the key to getting light rail extended in a realistic time frame,” Carrollton City Manager Leonard Martin said. “Our goal is to impress upon those we meet with the significance of what this [project] does for mobility and air quality in the region.”

The project would provide residents with a direct, safe route to and from Dallas without using cars. But much more is riding on the funding request.

Carrollton consultants have estimated that redevelopment around the three planned light rail stations could generate as much as 3 million square feet of construction. Those structures could be worth about $591 million and generate $3.5 million in property tax revenue, according to John Webb, Carrollton’s director of planning. The city would also earn more sales tax revenue, he said.

Farmers Branch has already invested $8.8 million to buy 15 properties covering 22.6 acres around its proposed light rail station. The goal is to help promote redevelopment and generate more property tax and sales tax revenue.

The area “is ripe for something good to happen,” said Dave Davis, Farmers Branch traffic engineer. The investment “serves as kind of undeniable evidence of our commitment to make the station area more than just a transit station but a development that will further support the light rail line itself.”

The proposal calls for the federal government to pay 47 percent of the $1.5 billion project. That money would help Dallas Area Rapid Transit complete the light-rail project planned from Pleasant Grove northwest through Dallas, Farmers Branch and Carrollton on schedule. If Congress OKs the expense and the project’s local funding sources remain stable, DART officials estimate, light rail will arrive in Carrollton by 2011.

“If we had to pay for it all locally, then it would take significantly longer,” said Sue Bauman, DART’s vice president for marketing and communications. Ms. Bauman said the trip to Washington helps local representatives explain the importance of the plans to Congress.

“This is a highly competitive and highly political quest that we’re going on,” she said. “But there is also the congressional process, and that’s where it becomes very competitive. There are a bunch more cities and transit areas applying than there is money in the pot.”

DART and city officials said creating new opportunities for mass transit also benefits the economies of other cities in the region.

Addison Mayor Scott Wheeler will join Mr. Martin and Mr. Davis on the trip to Washington, even though the rail line wouldn’t go through his city.

“Anything we do with DART,” he said, “we do because it’s right for us as a region.”