Commuter Rail Possible But Study Finds Demand, Money Short

FAYETTEVILLE -- Regional planners have a new study in hand that shows commuter light rail could work in the Northwest Arkansas corridor but finding a spare billion or two to pay for the project will likely keep it sitting idle.

The study, a prerequisite for federal assistance, was paid for with a $200,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration and looked at three alternatives:

• Light rail on a new right of way roughly parallel to Interstate 49 from Greenland to Bella Vista.

• Rail using the existing Arkansas & Missouri Railroad right of way wherever possible. The southern terminus would be in Greenland but the rail line departs from the corridor south of Bentonville and would require a connector of some sort to serve Bentonville and Bella Vista.

• Bus Rapid Transit on the existing U.S. 71B from Greenland to Bella Vista.

Light rail in a new right of way along I-49 would be the most expensive of the alternatives, according to Keith Jones, an engineer and vice president of URS Corp., the consulting firm that did the study.

"A separate light rail is very expensive just because it's really no different than building a multilane highway. You've gotta buy right of way and every parcel has to be dealt with and you've gotta relocate businesses, relocate residential folks, all that kind of stuff," Jones said. "I think it would be $2.2 or $2.3 billion for the capital costs of building a separate light rail line. That's sort of the big thing to swallow."

Building and operating a light rail network using the existing Arkansas & Missouri right of way is estimated to cost about $693 million.

Bus Rapid Transit would cost an estimated $97 million but would not bring the downtown development opportunities commuter rail would provide, Jones said.

J. Reilly McCarren, majority shareholder and chairman of the board of the Arkansas & Missouri, said he's open to sitting down and talking about the possibility of using or sharing the railroad right of way.

"We're very fortunate at the A&M to serve the community that we do. If the community decides to go in the direction of light rail then we'll certainly work with them to make it work but there are a lot of considerations," McCarren said. "The nuts and bolts reality of railroading is the minor piece of this."

McCarren said the railroad has more than 30 freight customers arrayed on either side of the tracks. That could be an issue because you don't want freight traffic crossing commuter rail lines so steps would have to be taken to prevent the lines from crossing, he said.

"It's not something that can't be overcome, but it would increase the cost of the project," McCarren said.

Jones said Northwest Arkansas is one of the few areas in the country where a joint project might be possible.

"They have a unique situation where the railroad is interested in this project and I think they're willing to come to the table and talk about it, whereas most places where you have a lot of existing freight track that might be great for a commuter rail project, you don't have any cooperation or interest from the railroad," Jones said. "It's their track, their right of way and there's nothing that compels them to talk to you about it."

Jones said public entities, if they are willing to pay for the project, would have to negotiate a deal to use of the right of way.

The right of way owned by the railroad is generally 100 feet wide with the track in the center. Some stretches are 200 feet wide. It narrows to 50 feet in most downtown areas and other sections, particularly in Fayetteville, have topographic constraints. The majority of the line is single track, with only limited passing track.

But, there's enough room to add double track to most of the line using the existing right of way, Jones said.

Using Arkansas & Missouri right of way would provide double track capacity throughout the corridor. The study envisions passenger platforms and amenities at eight stops along the 37-mile corridor. The line would follow the way the region has developed since the 1800s, first with the Butterfield Stage Line and later the railroad.

"Working with the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad is a more feasible approach in using the right of way to build double track and to build a commuter rail line," Jones said. "It's located in a better place."

Development along the rails was built knowing a rail line existed next door, so there's nothing along there that would be extremely sensitive to additional noise or vibration of passenger trains, Jones said.

Even if there was money to build the light rail option on the I-49 corridor, it would cause a lot of disruption, Jones said.

"It's progress, but more and more these days you find that public projects that involve taking private property for right of way run into more and more resistance from the public," Jones said. "If there's a way to do it without acquiring a lot of private land, then it's going to be a lot easier to implement."

Price Tag, Population Could Derail The Project

The light rail project is not likely to qualify for federal money. Population densities in the region and estimated ridership are probably not high enough to generate the projected ridership numbers required to qualify.

The project could end up on on the list of unfunded projects regional planners would like to see done someday if money becomes available, according to Paul Justus, with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The estimated cost of building a route in the I-49 corridor would exceed the total cost for all the projects in the region's 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan.

"Something like this would really require a champion of sorts," Justus said.

Another scenario is a group of business people or individuals interested in commuter rail could step forward and try to raise the money. Any of the individual cities in the corridor, the regional planning commission, regional mobility authority or Northwest Arkansas Council could take a lead role in finding money for the project.

Mike Malone, CEO of the council, said it traditionally has taken on large-scale projects that cross multi-jurisdictions which individual entities cannot do on their own, such as building the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and major highway projects.

"If there's a regional consensus, then we want to help," Malone said. "In general terms, we're for starting to plan for rail so that when the time comes, our population reaches the size that we get the right density, that we're ready as a region."

Malone said the council would have to look at the region's overall needs and the resources available before deciding whether to sign on or not.

Stephen Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, said communities are looking at creative ways to pay for transit projects.

"I think you're going to see the rise over the next decade in private companies developing and operating transit infrastructure," Luoni said. "Transit is going to be the next big investment."

Some governments are looking at building transit projects and reaping the windfall through creative tax structures like tax increment financing, Luoni said. In other places, putting transit in place is being tied to development projects.

"That's up to the local area," Jones said. "There's all kinds of ways and there's far more projects being done without federal assistance around the country simply because federal funds are tight, there are no earmarks anymore like there use to be in Congress, and federal funds bring with them federal rules and regulations that add a lot of time, add a lot of cost to the overall project."

Northwest Arkansas Can Get 'Transit Ready'

Cities could begin preparing for commuter rail service by implementing transit oriented development in their downtowns, according to the study.

"One thing the study may do is give the individual cities a heads up that if they want a commuter rail project, they need to increase density in their downtowns," Justus said. "Higher urban densities are a goal most cities already have."

The study is as much about how cities in the corridor want to develop as it is about moving people around, Jones said.

"The fixed guideway study is looking at things from a transportation project standpoint, but it's not just a transportation problem," Jones said. "It's how do you accomplish some goals of having more sustainable development with walkable neighborhoods and mixed uses so you don't have to get in your car for everything in the world like we do now."

Luoni said the region needs to move sooner rather than later to light rail and transit oriented design to remain economically and environmentally viable. Luoni said the cost of implementing mass transit is high now but the cost will only get higher as the region continues to develop.

"The good news is the cities throughout Northwest Arkansas are rediscovering the potential of their downtowns," Luoni said. "Both Springdale and Rogers are looking at downtown master plans and, of course, Fayetteville and Bentonville are both moving forward with their downtown master plans that have been in place."

The Design Center explored light rail and and related development in 2007 through a planning study. Looking 20 years out, the population is expected to be about a million people.

"Once we get those million people it'll be too late to cost effectively implement transit," Luoni said. "Land values are going to go up and, if the region doesn't do anything differently, we're going to see continued sprawl development. That's the problem, the more the region grows the more it moves away from being a transit-feasible region some day."

Much of the recent development in the region has been west of I-49, away from the downtowns.

"I think it's a great long-term plan, I just don't know how we implement something like that," said Patsy Christie, Springdale planning director. "I think it really opens your eyes to a lot of issues we've been talking about, but it raises a lot more questions."

Christie said a major concern is how to get commuters to and from their ultimate destinations once they're reached the downtown stations.

The role of the railroad has been discussed as part of Springdale's downtown revitalization planning process, but it's not yet clear what that role will be, Christie said. It's a unique asset the city needs to take advantage of, she said.

Christie said all cities in the region need to be aware of the study as they go about the planning process.

Commuter rail would work well with the Razorback Greenway, Jones said.

"You have the great greenway and the connecting trails for pedestrians and bikes and that's going to get more and more popular," Jones said. "You can go over to almost any country in Europe and see in the parking lots, there are thousands of bicycles at the train station parking lots. I often wonder how do they find their bike? It's hard enough to find a car."

NW News on 08/04/2014