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OGDEN — A preferred alternative has been selected for the Weber State Transit Corridor project in Ogden, but a public consensus is nowhere to be found.
The project, a partnership with the Utah Transit Authority, the city of Ogden, Weber County, Weber State University, McKay-Dee Hospital, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Federal Transportation Administration, is looking at ways to improve transit service in a five-mile corridor between downtown Ogden and Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital.
UTA asserts the area is one of the busiest bus transit corridors in the Wasatch Front, but the area’s high levels of traffic make transit trips slower and less reliable.
After analyzing project designs, travel lanes, travel demand, traffic patterns and impacts, the project’s consultant, Wilbur Smith Associates, has recommended streetcar as the proposed mode for the project, with an alignment that runs from the Ogden Intermodal Hub down Washington Boulevard to 36th Street, then up 36th Street to Harrison Boulevard, to Weber State and McKay-Dee.
Among project stakeholders and interested public, the streetcar option is generally accepted as the way to go. The route the streetcar will take, however, is a different story entirely.
During a meeting at the Weber County Commission Chambers on Thursday afternoon, several project stakeholders and public citizens expressed concerns about the 36th Street route.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said the way the current route is configured, it would take 26 to 27 minutes to get to McKay-Dee, which he says is too long.
“We’re not getting what we were seeking when we started this project,†he said.
A group of Ogden residents who want to see the streetcar go from the Intermodal Hub up 25th Street, feel public opinion has largely been ignored during the process.
“We need to slow this process down and think about what we really want to accomplish,†said Mitch Moyes, an Ogden resident and proponent of a route through 25th Street. “This is a decision that will affect this region for decades. If we do it right, we can be an example to the rest of the nation.â€
There is also some debate whether the streetcar should stop in front of Weber State on Harrison, or meander through the university, making stops on campus and at the Dee Event Center. Making stops through Weber State would make a trip to McKay-Dee Hospital take longer. Weber State officials want multiple stops; McKay-Dee prefers that people be able to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.
UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said the decision on the route is not final and the agency will work to hear all sides of the issue.
“This recommended alternative doesn’t preclude other alternatives,†Carpenter said. “We want to explore everything.â€
Godfrey suggested a workshop type of meeting be scheduled where all sides can sit down together to exchange ideas. The meeting has not been formally scheduled yet, but will take place soon.
“I don’t sense it’s impossible for this group to come together,†said UTA deputy planning director Mick Crandall. “But we do seem to have some work to do.â€
For more information about the project, call Tauni Everett, (801) 287-2061, or email at teverett@rideuta.com.
Hoops for all...
One of the interesting things that has come from meetings with the consulting firm WilburSmith, UDOT and UTA is that this project is expensive. You might be saying, "well duh". In all honesty, Federal funds make or break this project. If any particular route does not "qualify" for funding, then we are out of luck. I believe that despite the feeling that the general public is less involved than they would like to be, WilburSmith, UDOT and UTA have tried to find compromise. This is where we as the public and city government need to come together. Consultants are human calculators, they are given data and asked to crunch out a result. They are only as good as the information they are given. Our city government has the power to tailor specific policies to create a corridor that is more appealing to the Federal qualifications. The Federal Transit Authority will not deal in speculation, therefore our desire to have a streetcar up 25th and south on Harrison is irrelevant. We need to push for concrete policies that show the FTA we mean business and that this alignment satisfies every variable in the equation.
The next step is to drive down cost. Land takings along the 25th and Harrison corridor are substantial and there area few solutions that were not presented to the stakeholders. After the consultants are presented with the public solutions, we may be able to completely reduce the takings factor, or at least reduce it to the point where the two corridors can compete "apples to apples".
And finally, as outlined by the reporter, there is a little more going on here than the cross-town routes. There is significant derision about the WSU/McKay Dee section south of Harrison and 36th. Ultimately all interested parties will have to decide whether or not the streetcar is the advantage this city needs to prosper, or if we will continue to languish because we cannot come to a consensus.
James Wilson
for more information
There's a lot more detail about this meeting over at Weber County Forum:
http://wcforum.blogspot.com
Much evidence it is more than nostalgia
Scott H:
You've given precisely one of the reasons street cars are far better generators of transit oriented development than bus routes. [In Portland, for example, more than a billion --- yes, that's with a "b" --- dollars of transit oriented development occured once the street car line went in. They're expanding the system now.
Bus routes can change, move away, disappear, and if you've invested a ton of money in a development [residential or commercial] that assumed close bus service and the line moves, you're toast. But as you note, tracks cannot be easily moved. Once the tracks go in, those looking to invest in transit-side residential or commercial properties are pretty much assured that the transit their investment depends on is not going to be moved to a different route.
The fact is, whether it makes sense to you or not, in city after city, rail transit has proven to be a very effective generator of transit oriented development along the routes. Bus transit has not.
Big Surprise
Thanks to Mayor Godfrey for recommending further discussion. It has been clear at all the public meetings since day one that the "powers that be" were feigning interest in the public's opinion. They seemed to have an immediate agenda, which was to put the streetcar down 36th Street (come hell or high water); at least that was the impression that was shared by many. Why did they even bother wasting their money and time on a "study?" This process has been discouraging to a lot of us.
These facts cannot be disputed:
Who are they trying to serve here? Do we want the residents of Ogden to ride this thing?
why not a bus?
This is very odd. Once a streetcar route is set, it is cost prohibitive to change to deal with changing needs, traffic patterns, and business/residential patterns. Bus routes, on the other hand, are relatively cheap to change. The streetcar thing is nostalgic and all, but it seems to defy reason.