From: "Friends of Transit" Subject: Brown Cloud accelerates feds' recommendation on light rail Date: Friday, February 07, 2003 1:46 PM Brown Cloud accelerates feds' recommendation on light rail http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0207LIGHTRAIL07.html By Mary Jo Pitzl The Arizona Republic Feb. 7, 2003 Maybe there's a silver lining to the Brown Cloud: The Valley's poor air pollution helped boost the rating of the proposed light rail system. The $1.18 billion project received a "highly recommended" rating this week from the Federal Transit Administration, with its highest marks coming for the environmental benefits it is expected to provide. "Part of that is automatic," said Marc Soronson, a planner with the light rail project. "They give you extra points because you're doing a project that will have transportation benefits in a non-attainment area." The Phoenix area is rated "non-attainment" for air pollution and carries "serious" ratings for the pollutants strongly linked to vehicle exhaust: carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone. The report submitted to the Transit Administration estimates the 20-mile rail project will avoid 846 tons of air pollution a year. That equates to cutting 62.6 million miles of commuting a year. Put another way, that works out to one day with no driving at all in the Valley, since local motorists rack up about 62.5 million miles daily. The report also projects that light rail will avoid 63,370 tons a year of carbon dioxide, a pollutant that figures into global-warming estimates. Phoenix and Seattle were the only cities with projects out of 59 reviewed by the federal government to receive the "highly recommended" marks. Besides the environmental category, Soronson said, the Phoenix project was helped by its financial report and the fact that the Transit Administration used the area as a test for some technical data. That data was used to calculate how much time would be saved per passenger mile. In Phoenix's case, it worked out to 3.3 minutes of saved travel time per mile compared to using an improved bus system. The project scored a "medium-high" rating on its cost- effectiveness and for its local financial commitment and the reliability of its capital-financing plan. Both Phoenix and Tempe have transit taxes to pay for half of the project. Backers are relying on federal funding for the other half. To date, the project has received $33.8 million toward its desired federal match of $591.7 million. The next step in the funding process is pending in Congress, where a conference committee is expected to decide how much money to allocate to the rail project for the coming year. Rail backers requested $80 million: The House of Representatives recommended $18 million while the Senate allotted no money. Meanwhile, appraisers are sharpening their pencils as the rail project moves into property acquisition. Purchases will begin soon, spokeswoman Daina Mann said, with the simple cases taking six months. "Difficult" purchases could take up to a year. In all, the project is expected to spend $116 million on right-of -way purchases. The project is one-third through its design process. Once it hits the halfway mark, the Valley mayors who are directing the project can seek a full-funding grant agreement from Congress. They expect to do that by early next year. Whether that request will be granted or how much of it will be granted is unclear and could be influenced by the state of the economy, other demands on the federal budget and the level of support among Arizona's congressional delegation. To date, Arizona backing has been tepid. But with the "highly recommended" rating in hand, Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza, who is head of the Valley Metro board, has said he hopes to stir up enthusiasm. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2004, but the mayors want the federal grant agreement in hand first. Plans call for construction to start at the planned rail yard near the intersection of the Loop 202 and Arizona 143 and proceed east to the north side of Tempe Town Lake and west to 26th Street in Phoenix. The second construction phase will move into downtown Phoenix. Rail planners have circled Dec. 16, 2006, as opening day for the first leg of the project, which will run between downtown Phoenix and the Arizona State University campus. The second leg, opening in April 2007, will continue north from downtown Phoenix to 19th Avenue and Montebello Avenue. The last segment, from ASU through Tempe into Mesa, is scheduled to begin service in August 2007. Planners estimate there will be 26,700 boardings a week on the initial 20-mile track. Reach the reporter at maryjo. pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at (602) 444-8963.