Light rail finally gets green light in K.C.

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- City officials in Kansas City were reeling Wednesday, a day after voters approved a ballot initiative that requires the city to build a light-rail system.

Expected to go down in flames like six previous ballot attempts had, the initiative instead passed overwhelmingly in four metro area counties, despite what critics said was a lack of specifics on how the project would work and a source of money too small to do the job.

City Councilman Charles Eddy, who handles many of the city's transportation issues, said city attorneys have said the council could vote to ignore the initiative.

"There is simply not enough money there," Eddy said. "But I think we need to go back to the drawing board to see what we can do and present something to the public that is feasible."

Under the plan, pushed by activist Clay Chastain, the city would build a 27-mile light-rail train linking midtown with Kansas City International Airport. It also provides for a system of 60 electric shuttles to connect train stations with neighborhoods and business areas and an overhead gondola system around the city's Liberty Memorial, Penn Valley Park and Union Station.

To pay the initiative's $975 million price tag, the measure extends for 25 years a 3/8-cent sales tax currently scheduled to end in 2009, generating about $575 million, with the rest of the money expected to come from state and federal funds.

Chastain, who lives in Bedford, Va., welcomed what he saw as the public's endorsement of the light-rail concept.

"I certainly applaud the vision and courage of the voters of Kansas city for approving this transit plan," he said. "I think this environmentally sound transit plan will set the city up to blow away the competition and lead the city back to greatness."

City officials said they accepted the message from voters that they supported mass transit, but said it would be extremely difficult to build Chastain's vision.

"Voters approved a very specific set of language and if you can't deliver what is on there, that creates a legal struggle," said Greg Lever, executive director of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.

For instance, the plan assumes light-rail construction costs of about $35 million per mile, but similar light-rail systems in other cities have average costs of around $54 million per mile. Planners said they don't know if the initiative's route will require bridges or intersection overpasses, which would dramatically increase costs.

And officials said the competition for federal funding for public transit projects is fierce and requires a raft of engineering studies, environmental assessments and other supporting material that could take 10 to 12 years to complete.

Chastain dismissed most of those concerns. He said Kansas City's system should cost less than those in other cities because it will use existing roads and public property, and that city officials can cut down on much of the preparation by reusing studies generated from their own unsuccessful attempt to get light rail passed in 2001.

He added that federal officials would likely support a light-rail system because it would cut down on pollution and tie into Kansas City's existing plans to redevelop its downtown and areas near the airport.

"These people are putting out these bogus excuses and scaring the public," he said. "It didn't work during the campaign and it sure won't work after the fact."

Officials with the city's public bus system said light rail would interfere with plans to create a regional mass transit system, referred to as Smart Moves, which they planned to pay for with a new regional tax once the 3/8-cent sales tax went away in 2009.

"That doesn't mean we couldn't move to a regional tax for bus service, but you get into the question of pushing tax tolerance," said Mark Huffer, general manager of the Kansas City Area Transit Authority.

Chastain said he supported a regional plan. He said a light-rail system would actually help such a plan by gaining acceptance of public transportation and encouraging residents to extend the rail lines to communities in Johnson County and surrounding areas.