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KCPowercat
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by KCPowercat »

Are we confident or like super confident?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by earthling »

And is backup plan realistic?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

KCPowercat wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:13 pm Are we confident or like super confident?
Super confident in the rating (staff), less confident in the appropriation (electeds). Here's how the latter might work:

(a) Trump names the project in his budget (least likely)
(b) Congress reopens earmarks ("Article I Projects") and our bi-state delegation earmarks the federal match (most likely)
(c) We wait until someone else is elected in 2020 or 2024, using the time to finish engineering and design (likely, but only if b does not occur first)

The FAST Act (and Small Starts) is authorized through 2020, but Congress rarely passes a new authorization by the time the previous one expires. They end up passing Continuing Resolutions multiple times and that's where the earmarks are likely to appear.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by KCPowercat »

What is the timeline of (b)? Is that this month?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by normalthings »

DaveKCMO wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:47 pm
KCPowercat wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:13 pm Are we confident or like super confident?
(b) Congress reopens earmarks ("Article I Projects") and our bi-state delegation earmarks the federal match (most likely)
If earmarks come back, would that make it easier to get federal funds on other future extensions? (vs. going through a program such as FAST or Small Starts)
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

KCPowercat wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:52 pm What is the timeline of (b)? Is that this month?
No clue.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

normalthings wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:47 pm
DaveKCMO wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:47 pm
KCPowercat wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:13 pm Are we confident or like super confident?
(b) Congress reopens earmarks ("Article I Projects") and our bi-state delegation earmarks the federal match (most likely)
If earmarks come back, would that make it easier to get federal funds on other future extensions? (vs. going through a program such as FAST or Small Starts)
Yes.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by KCPowercat »

Appreciate the info Dave.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

Major shift from the administration's first two budget documents, which sought to eliminate the program entirely:

Image

No specific projects were listed in the budget.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by normalthings »

Are there plans to add switchbacks in Midtown? It would allow circulation of streetcars if a portion of mainstreet were to get blocked.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by KCPowercat »

I saw someone with some knowledge say yes.
Complete the one at Union station and at least one more
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

"Medium-High" is the rating! Off we go...
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by KCPowercat »

Is that what we were thinking? I'm sure high would have been preferred but is that realistic?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by kcmiz »

Is that a good sign Dave? How does that compare to competing projects?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by DaveKCMO »

"Medium-High" is what consultants predicted. The Downtown-Plaza corridor always rates strong -- remember we've been at this stage before with light rail twice -- so this is not really "new" news (but a necessary step in this project's process). The official federal match is 47.9%. Less than half is good.

Other Medium-High projects entering Project Development in this report:

IN Lake County, West Lake Corridor (BRT)
WA Seattle, Federal Way Link Extension - Sound Transit (LRT)

Medium:

AZ Phoenix, Northwest Extension Phase II Light Rail
AZ Phoenix, South Central Light Rail Extension (Downtown Hub)

Medium-Low:

NJ-NY Secaucus, Hudson Tunnel (Heavy rail)

Some others are listed but entered the process before the laws change so they don't have ratings yet (Portland LRT, NYC 2nd Avenue Subway, etc).
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by beautyfromashes »

That’s great news! Are there any competing projects with a high rating?
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

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beautyfromashes wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:43 pm That’s great news! Are there any competing projects with a high rating?
None at the same stage (Project Development) and category. Here's one other streetcar project that received a "High" rating in the Small Starts Project Development phase:

WA Seattle, Center City Connector

Our project is now large enough to be in the New Starts category (which uses the same pot of federal funds).
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by WoodDraw »

Wasn't the whole point of moving away from earmarks to keep from funding really shitty transportation projects just to make everyone happy?

Seems like that would be a bad approach to return to.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

Post by normalthings »

Selections from “FTA Capital Investment Program: KC Streetcar Expansion Project Profile”

https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.d ... rofile.pdf
The City expects to complete the environmental review process in early 2019, enter Engineering in late 2019, receive a full funding grant agreement in May 2020, and start revenue service in June 2023.
The Project includes right-of-way acquisition, vehicle maintenance facility expansion, the purchase of six vehicles, road work, transit signal priority and queue-jumps, intersection and sidewalk improvements, communications system, and a fare collection system. The service is planned to operate every 10 minutes weekday peak and off- peak periods, and every 12 minutes during weekday evenings and weekends.
So free to ride is going away? And six vehicles doesn’t like enough?
Last edited by normalthings on Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:54 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Phase 2 streetcar to UMKC

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Fare collection system?
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