Ken Larsen's website - What should be done if DOLRT does not receive Federal funding?

 

I assert that DOLRT has a very low probablity of getting federal funding.

 

# Option Consequences
1 Bridge the gap by raising the money locally. This is a horrid idea, because property taxes and/or sales taxes would have to raised substantially.  DOLRT was relying heavily on the Federal contribution.  In 2016 when the NC legislature announced that they were going to reduce their contribution from 25% to 10%, GoTriangle's solution was to borrow money until the year 2062.  That was a poor solution.  DOLRT should have been canceled instead.
2 Walk away +Saves lots of money that would have gone to maintenance.
-All the money has been spent thus far on DOLRT will have been wasted.  That's estimated to be in excess of $ 200M.
3 Continue, but use the DOLRT corridor for buses +Saves a lot of the money that has already been spent.
-Would still be very expensive.
-At-grade crossings would still present traffic and environmental issues.
-Would largely be redundant with existing bus service.
4 Continue, but use the resultant corridor for bike and pedestrian path +Awesome, very environmental friendly
-Not likely to be used in inclement weather.
-Too many at-grade crossings.  Those crossings would not have barriers, so crossing such streets would be very hazardous.

See this video of a public comment by Leif Rasmussen to the BOCC on December 5, 2016.

 

Click here to listen to an audio recording of GoTriangle's Danny Rogers telling Ken Larsen that the DOLRT project will be ended if DOLRT doesn't get Federal funding. 

 

Ken:  "Hypothetically what would happen if they [the Federal government] said no?"

 

GoTriangle's Danny Rogers:  "We wouldn't be building the project."

 

This one-on-one conversation took place on November 28, 2017 at Creekside Elementary School.  GoTriangle had just given a presentation to about 120 concerned citizens about the ROMF being built nearby on Farrington Road.

 

 

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