Council to consider corridor options
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By SCOTT SCHWEBKE
Standard-Examiner staff
sschwebke@standard.net
OGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey and the city council agreed Thursday night to study three transit corridors in hopes of fast-tracking federal funding for a possible streetcar system from downtown to Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital Center.
The corridors will be reviewed as part of a combined transit alternatives analysis and environmental impact study.
Two of the corridors that will be studied were recommended by Godfrey; the third was proposed by the city council.
Godfrey's top corridor recommendation runs from the intermodal hub on 23rd Street to Washington Boulevard to 36th Street to Harrison Boulevard and then on to Weber State University and McKay-Dee.
Godfrey's second pick extends from the intermodal hub to Washington Boulevard to 30th Street to Harrison Boulevard and then to Weber State and McKay-Dee.
The city council's top corridor selection runs from the intermodal hub to Washington Boulevard to 26th Street to Harrison Boulevard and on to the university and hospital.
Godfrey believes his recommendations are more suitable than the one submitted by the city council because the streetcar system would encourage mixed-use development along Washington Boulevard.
In addition, under the city council's scenario, the municipality would have to purchase numerous homes along Harrison Boulevard to provide rights of way for the streetcar system, Godfrey said.
Harrison Boulevard isn't meant to have the development density needed to support a streetcar system, Godfrey said. "You want to have a streetcar where you want to have density."
However, Councilman Jesse Garcia believes the council's recommendation deserves study.
"The council came up with the corridor, and it deserves study along with the other two," he said.
"They will all be given a fair look, and whatever shakes out, we'll go with."
Garcia also said the ability of the city council and Godfrey to reach an agreement that all three corridors should be studied is a significant step in addressing the city's mass transit needs.
"The quicker we come to an agreement, the quicker we can get in line for federal funding," he said.
The combined alternatives analysis and environmental impact study should expedite the city's ability to nail down a single corridor and preferred mode of transit, said Greg Scott, a transportation planner for the Wasatch Front Regional Council.
Information from a 2005 study commissioned by the Wasatch Front Regional Council, Utah Transit Authority, Ogden and Weber State University will also be used to assist with the analysis.
It could take up to 30 months to complete the combined study that's needed to enable the city to apply for funding from the Federal Transit Administration, Scott said.
Mick Crandall, deputy chief for planning and programming for UTA, told the council the combined study will likely cost about $500,000.
The city's 2008 budget has earmarked $200,000 from Business Depot Ogden lease revenues to fund a transit alternative analysis.
The study could be also funded with a portion of $231,250 in UTA funds pledged to the city for transit-related studies, Crandall said.
In addition to UTA, Weber State University and McKay-Dee have also expressed an interest in possibly participating in funding the study. City council members also hope Ogden will receive proceeds from a Weber County quarter-cent sales tax earmarked for transit projects.
Godfrey said he wants to explore wireless streetcar technology and other options to develop a system that would cost the city no more than $80 million to construct.
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