Two visions of the metro area’s future are up for grabs, both claiming to offer a more livable and economically vibrant community by getting lots of people off the roads and onto the rails.
But those visions differ sharply on when, where and how specific plans would go into effect.
Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders has outlined plans to build a $1.03 billion commuter rail system, using Union Station as a hub with spokes running to Eastern Jackson County, the airport, Kansas Speedway and elsewhere. Officials hope to get federal stimulus funds to build the 134-mile system in a couple of years.
Clay Chastain, on the other hand, wants to go to the voters again with a 35-mile light rail line from Lee’s Summit to Kansas City International Airport. He has taken several light rail plans to Kansas City voters over the last decade.
“This is just a real strong starter system that most people can see themselves using,” he says of his current proposal. That plan comes in at more than $3 billion and would rely on a quarter-cent Kansas City sales tax plus another eighth-cent transportation tax. This week Chastain is starting a petition drive to put the issue on the August or November 2010 ballot.
“We certainly think we’ll have the signatures to go on the August ballot if we choose to do that,” he said recently.
Sanders is already pressing ahead and won’t go to the voters, at least for now. He says his plan can be up and running 18 to 24 months – and will transform the city – if Washington comes up with the $1.03 billion out of economic stimulus money.
“If the federal government gives us the money to build this, we’ll find a way to run this,” he said. It’s assumed that an operational subsidy would require “a small tax” and that issue would go to the voters in the future, he said.
Chastain is complimentary of the Sanders/TranSystems plan.
“It’s interesting, especially the way that they’re going to try to fund it,” he said in a voice-mail message this week. “And I happen to think that it’s an excellent plan, and it dovetails right into our plan, actually.”
Chastain buys into the idea, for example, of using the Kansas City Southern line that runs through Independence and Blue Springs. That’s part of the county’s plan.
“You can’t pass up a deal like that,” he said.
Chastain says any regional plan requires a high degree of coordination and cooperation, and he even suggests putting competing plans on the ballot, but Sanders is clear on his next steps.
“Everything we’re doing is independent of Clay Chastain,” he said.
Proponents cite successes around the country. Sanders points to the rail system in Denver. Chastain likes Charlotte, N.C.
“So we know it works, and we know Kansas City is desperate for something like that,” Chastain said. He wants what he calls “green infrastucture” to help revive Kansas City, Mo., and says people in Blue Springs, Independence and elsewhere intuitively know they cannot prosper if Kansas City itself fails.
“We can’t keep sprawling. ... We know we can’t sustain that,” he said.
TranSystems Vice President Jim Terry, who designed the county’s plan – Kansas City Regional Rapid Rail – puts the focus more on getting people to and from work and on things such as attracting conventions to the area. He says the metro area is slipping behind cities such as Omaha and Oklahoma City.
“And I just don’t want to see Kansas City getting further and further behind,” he said.
Proponents of the county’s plan also point to the low startup costs: $60 million to $75 million per mile for the light-rail plan Kansas City voters rejected last year compared with a little less than than $8 million per mile for the county using existing tracks.
The terminology is significant too. Chastain’s plans have generally centered on light rail, which means building new lines.
The county plan is “commuter rail,” relying on the Kansas City area’s many unused or underused freight train tracks. Only about 20 percent of the tracks would have be built. Also, commuter rail cars are heavier, and proponents describe a better, more comfortable ride, complete with wi-fi, tray table and bike racks.
There are a few other moving pieces too.
n The Sanders/TranSystems plan covers four counties: Jackson, Clay, Platte and Wyandotte. If the metro area were a clockface, that’s everything from 9 o’clock (the Legends) to 11 (KCI) to 1 (Liberty and Kearney), to 3 (Independence, Blue Springs, Grain Valley and Oak Grove), to 4 (Lee’s Summit) and 5 (Grandview).
What’s missing? Johnson County is 6 to 9 o’clock, and it’s not part of the plan. Sanders said officials there just aren’t on board yet but says Johnson County could easily be added and logically would be when everyone sees how successful the system is.
Similarly, officials say it would make sense to jump over the county line and add Odessa, Mo., east of Oak Grove and Pleasant Hill, south of Lee’s Summit.
n The Mid-America Regional Council, which includes cities and counties across the metro area, is working on “Smart Moves,” largely based on expanded and more efficient bus service.
“And that’s quite a different vision from what we’re proposing,” Chastain said.
Mell Henderson, MARC’s director of transportation, said it’s in its early stages and that planners are taking a look at corridors where it makes the most sense to concentrate service.
“We’re working on sharpening our pencils to see what’s feasible,” he said.
