COTA is one step closer to finalizing plans for a light rail transit system in Columbus.

In July 2003 COTA held several meetings to collect input from the community on its North Corridor Light Rail Transit Project. This process of gathering information, also known as a public scoping period, was discussed during a meeting at the Worthington Municipal Building on Jan. 28. The meeting was one of three COTA held throughout the week to update the public on the results of the scoping period.

The North Corridor Light Rail Project is the first of eight lines COTA hopes to develop under its Vision 2020 plan. The plan is designed to improve transportation in Columbus by 2020.

Scoping was the first step in the project’s engineering and environmental study. COTA is required by the National Environmental Policy Act to conduct this study to determine the environmental, economic, transportation and financial impact of the light rail project. The purpose behind scoping include: Promoting public participation, coordinating the project with other projects, recognizing all viable options and significant issues facing the project and construction a schedule for decision-making.

“Scoping helps outline what should be done within the community,” said Mike Bradley, COTA Director of Rail Development. “Through scoping we get a better idea of what the community wants. We get comments like: Why don’t you go further north? Why don’t you go further south? Why don’t you use a monorail?”

COTA received almost 200 public and agency comments during the scoping process. These comments were evaluated and several decisions regarding the project were made as a result. The location of routes and the types of transit systems being considered were two main areas COTA focused on during this period.

“There’s a lot of information that goes into just narrowing it down. It doesn’t just happen overnight,” said Chuck Hymes, project manager for the project management consultant DMJM+HARRIS.

The different types of transit systems being considered was one aspect narrowed down in the process. Initially, there were seven options, but it was cut down to three as a result of scoping. The three remaining options include: Streetcars/trolleys, bus rapid transits/electronic buses and light rails.

Another key component of the scoping results pertains to the light rail routes. The community made several suggestions regarding locations where they would like to see the light rail, but some have been rejected due to a lack of funding and feasibility.

“We are going to stop the rail at Lazelle Road, but the community asked why don’t we go to Delaware,” Bradley said. “But we ruled that out because we don’t have enough money.”

Other rejected ideas include: Running the rail to the southern Franklin County line and aligning the corridor with Columbus’s railroad tracks.

While several options have been ruled out for the North Corridor project COTA is still not discarding them.

“Just because an idea was screened out for this corridor doesn’t mean it won’t be used for a different corridor,” Hymes said.

In addition to project decisions, the data was used to determine concerns of the community

“People were overwhelmingly supportive of this project, but there were a lot of things the community was concerned about,” Hymes said. “None of these things are surprising, we expected them. They all tell us what’s important to the community.”

Some of the community’s concerns included: Transit service quality, air/water quality, noise/vibration, aesthetics, traffic, accessibility and the economic effect. One of the biggest concerns is the effectiveness of the project, but Hymes is confident that the light rail will be a viable transportation alternative.

“The growth and congestion will happen. But people will have a choice, they can take a chance of getting stuck in traffic or they can take the rail which will be 99 percent on time,” Hymes said.

Some residents agree with Hymes, including Worthington resident Paul Graham.

“It won’t necessarily fix the issue, but at least it gives you a choice,” Graham said.

Despite the progress the light rail project has make, COTA has encountered a major set back; there is no federal funding for the project.

“We’ve asked for money, but they (the federal government) hasn’t supported it. We’re not very well funded, and we are the 15th largest city in America,” Bradley said. “Right now we have all the local funding, but what we are missing is government support.”

The North Corridor project is supposed to be finished by 2008 with a final cost of $500 million, but progress will start to slow if COTA doesn’t receive the necessary funding, Bradley said.

Even though the project is lacking funds, COTA will not be asking the community for any money till next year.

“The time to ask for local money is before we move into the final design which looks like the spring of 2005.”

For more information go to www.cotafasttrax.com/.