OGDEN -- Even if all parties come to an agreement on the right route for a proposed streetcar system, this trolley is a long way from the end of the line.
Utah Transit Authority officials presented an update on their transit alternatives analysis at a city council work session Tuesday.
In June, UTA officials announced their recommendation for a corridor traveling from Ogden's Intermodal Hub at Wall Avenue and 23rd Street to Washington Boulevard, then south to 36th Street, east to Harrison Boulevard and winding through the Weber State campus to McKay-Dee Hospital. Another option left open was for the route to travel east on 30th Street.
Early work on the transit corridor began in November 2004, but the application process to fight for federal funding is still on the horizon.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey was skeptical of the project's viability in June, saying the potential $160 million price tag and $3.5 million annual operating cost may prevent its completion even if the streetcar system were to receive federal dollars.
On Tuesday, UTA strategic planner G.J. LaBonty showed the council a chart of the process funneling its way down toward the final local decision, but only in the first stages of discussion with the Federal Transit Administration.
"We have not really even been invited into the building yet," LaBonty said. "We are still kind of knocking on the outside."
A meeting will be held Sept. 28 at Union Station for UTA to present its recommendations for the chosen alternatives to the public.
If and when stakeholders agree on a locally preferred alternative, the project will go to a full environmental study to submit to the Federal Transit Administration to compete with other transit projects nationwide.
UTA environmental planner Liz Scanlon says the FTA will hold applicants to very rigorous standards.
"They're going to push pretty hard," she said. "The big issue that they push us to answer for them is, what is broken, and why do we need to spend a significant (amount), $50 million or more, to solve the problem?"
Even though the council feels like it's been in the process forever, Councilwoman Caitlin Gochnour said, "Liz used a really good analogy last time. We're getting in the lunch line and we haven't even picked up our tray yet."
Other alternatives still can be added to the environmental impact study, LaBonty said, but each one may come at an additional cost of $500,000 to $750,000 per option.
Members of the Trolley District, a group of central Ogden residents, have advocated a 25th Street alignment for the streetcar.
This topic is being discussed at The Weber County Forum.
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