Money train could stop here

Triangle rail funds are in Easley plan

By VICKI HYMAN, Staff Writer

Gov. Mike Easley's $700 million transportation proposal would help fulfill the state's long-standing commitment to help pay for the Triangle Transit Authority's plan to link Raleigh, Research Triangle Park and Durham by rail.

The state had promised to pay for a quarter of the system, which is projected to cost $813 million by the time the entire system is operating up to speed in 2015 as scheduled. But the state never identified how.

The federal government is expected to cover half the cost. A 5 percent tax on rental car receipts in Durham, Orange and Wake counties is expected to cover the rest, though the authority expects to borrow some money because the local money isn't coming in fast enough.

"Knowing that we've got it in hand instead of going on the faith that the next legislature is going to make an appropriation is going to make [the TTA's] financial plan stronger and make us all sleep a little better at night," said David King, the Department of Transportation's deputy secretary for transit.

But the legislature will have to sign on to the plan, which calls for the state to borrow the money from the Highway Trust Fund, a special pot of gas taxes and fees that is supposed to pay for urban loops, highway widening and rural road paving.

Legislators have raided the Highway Trust Fund once before to help pay for transit. In 2001, the General Assembly approved the transfer of $630 million from the fund to pay for road maintenance and transit -- but, unlike the proposal Wednesday, the state won't have to pay it back. That bill included about $51 million for the TTA.

The proposal would accelerate funding of the state's share of the system, which means the authority might be able to borrow less.

Under Easley's proposal, the DOT would be just shy of its $203 million commitment to the Triangle project by the end of the 2005 fiscal year. "It's a good, strong stroke for public transit," said Anne Franklin of Raleigh, the authority's chairwoman. "It sounded as though they really wanted to get some dollars spent soon."

Groundbreaking for the rail system, which would run self-propelled, diesel-powered trains along an existing freight rail corridor, could happen this year.

The authority still awaits approval from the Federal Transit Administration to begin final design of the system, and then it must negotiate a funding agreement with the federal agency. Even then, the authority still depends on the good will of Congress to appropriate the money to meet its deadline to provide service between downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham by December 2007.

Easley's plan also covers the state's share of Charlotte's 10-mile light rail line, expected to cost $371 million. Like the Triangle, Charlotte's plan calls for 50 percent federal funding, with the remainder split between the state and local tax revenue, though the Queen City is flush with sales tax revenue dedicated to transit.

The Charlotte line, which still needs approval from federal regulators, would run between downtown and the city's loop highway to the south. Charlotte's electric-powered trains are scheduled to start running in 2006.