Ken Larsen's web site - DOLRT (light rail) status presentation to Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce

 

On October 30, 2018 Mark Marcopolis (an Orange County Commissioner) and Jenn Weaver (a Town of Hillsborough commissioner) gave this light rail (DOLRT) status presentation to the Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce.  The length of the video is 25:19.

 

Time offset Speaker Speaker's comments Ken's comments*
0:56 Mark Marcopolis Completed application for Federal funding is due by April of 2019.  
1:01 " September 2019:  Expected grant agreement from the Federal government.  Construction will begin soon after that.  It'll be finished by 2028. I claim that the likelihood of getting the full funding is virtually zero.  Without that Federal money, DOLRT will be finished and all the money that has been spent on DOLRT will have been wasted.
1:19 " During rush hour there are 86 buses/hour that pass by UNC Hospital ... one every 42 seconds.

In response to an audience question, Mark concedes that they are not all full.
Mark uses this bus traffic to justify DOLRT, but only one bus (RSX) goes from UNC to Duke.  It runs twice/hour during rush hour ... not 86 times/hour.
2:57 " Duke has 45 buses/hour during rush hour.  "It's a very busy transportation corridor."  
3:15 " Mark claims that every light rail system that has been built in the U.S. has been added on to ... or will be added on to.  He asserts that that proves that light rail is a successful solution to transportation needs.  
5:30 " New issues have popped up that have added cost to the project.  For example, they found an old main electrical line under Erwin Road near Duke Hospital.  It was installed in the 1950s.  Wires inside were encased in oil.  Hardly anyone works on those anymore.  A new electrical line will be needed. Issues like this are reasons why DOLRT needs a large contingency fund.

See this video of a public comment to the BOCC by Harold Gordon on April 18, 2017.
6:05 " There will be elevated tracks near Duke Hospital.  This will add cost, but will improve access to the Duke Hospital. The whole DOLRT line should have such grade separation, but that would dramatically increase the cost.
6:52 " Mark talks about affordable housing.  Mark cites a half mile as being the distance that people will be willing to walk or bike to get to a station.  He claims that in Durham there are 7.3 square miles of land area within a half mile of a station.  He claims that half of Durham's affordable housing lies within that area. I take issue with "people's williness to walk or bike a half mile to get to a station".  If a person is infirm, it's raining, they have many packages to carry, they have many destinations to visit, or their destination is not close to a station, they'll take their car instead.
7:30 " Within the 7.3 square miles of Durham are 31% of legally defined affordable housing housing units. Mark doesn't talk about gentrification. 
8:11 " There are 11,000 housing units within a half mile of a proposed DOLRT station.  
8:17 " Prospective riders of DOLRT will be people going to the hospital for health care or their employment:  VA Hospital, Duke Hospital, and UNC Hospital. Destinations are scattered all over the Triangle.  They are not concentrated along the DOLRT corridor. 
8:30 " DOLRT will help a lot of people out who are of modest means.  They'll be able to get to work without driving their car, and they can save that money.
8:50 " UNC has donated land near their Finley Golf Course, the Friday Center, and the Hospital.  
8:49 " Mark says that there is a lot of land available for development in Orange County that will be near the DOLRT and that developers will be able to build a lot lucrative projects there.  
9:20 " We'll have to figure out a way for developers to provide a certain amount of affordable housing.  
9:35 " Developers can build a lot of lucrative projects near the DOLRT line. "Lucrative projects" and affordable housing are contradictory terms.  Tony Blake:  Developers tear down affordable units to build lucrative projects.  Light rail has a terrible record of promoting this kind of development.  Light rail will make the affordable housing issue worse. This coupled with the regressive nature of the sales tax is a double whammy on the folks who can least afford it.
9:40 " A lot of tax revenue will be generated by development along the DOLRT. Mark's claim that the Gateway development will raise lots of tax revenue is contingent on the core buildings in that area being 12 - 15 stories tall.  This was brought up in a joint BOCC/Chapel Hill Town Council meeting on October 3, 2018.   Mayor Pam Hemminger objected citing that no one has approved building such tall buildings in Chapel Hill. 
10:49 " Marks says there is the opportunity for a lot of development near DOLRT and that tax revenue from that development [in Orange County near the Gateway station] can be used all over Orange County. UNC and UNC Healthcare are non-profits.  They won't be generating tax revenue for Orange County. 

UNC Healthcare will build an 11 acre campus at Easttowne Office Park.  See the map at the bottom of this web page.
11:11 " Gateway station lies in Durham but has been moved closer to the Orange County line.  This will help boost Orange County development.  
11:23 " UNC Hospital will build at Eastowne ... which is on the west side of 15-501.  This will mean a lot more ridership for DOLRT. The Gateway station will be on the east side of 15-501 ... and in Durham County.  See the map at the bottom of this web page.
11:30 " "I'm envisioning that at some point they will build a pedestrian bridge will be built across 15-501."  This will help the Eastowne folks get to the DOLRT Gateway station. Where will its funding come from?   It certainly is not part of DOLRT funding.  We certainly need pedestrian bridges, but they're not cheap.  One was built across I-40 for the American Tobacco trail.  It cost about $ 4M.

Without a pedestrian bridge, I'm highly dubious that people will cross 15-501 to access the Gateway station.  There is too much traffic during rush hour.
12:00 " DOLRT will take cars off the road, reduce pollution, provide jobs for people, to generate tax revenue for things that we value No to the traffic reduction and the pollution reduction.  The 40+ at-grade crossings will prevent those goals from being achieved.
13:52 Jenn Weaver Jenn Weaver is one of the Town of Hillsborough town commissioners.  
15:59 " Hillsborough train station will be funded out of the transit tax.  It will be finished by 2023.  The transit tax will pay for the Hillsborough train station + expanded bus service + DOLRT. If this were true, then there would be no need to borrow money to pay for DOLRT.  Instead, money will be borrowed until 2062, because the transit tax alone is not adequate to pay for DOLRT.  If DOLRT doesn't get Federal funding then an even greater imbalance will occur.
21:11 " "Why do we care about DOLRT?"  Answer:  Economic development around the Gateway station will provide tax revenue that can be used all over Orange County. Almost all of the tax revenue around Gateway will go to Durham County.  The Gateway station lies in Durham County.
22:34 " It will generate all sorts of jobs ... like construction and maintenance. The ROMF will be in Durham ... on Farrington Road ... which is east of Chapel Hill.
23:19 " We cannot continue to rely on highways
23:49 " We need to make our communities walkable and bikeable. I agree 100%.  See this video of a public comment by Leif Rasmussen to the BOCC on December 5, 2016.
24:21 " Instead of spending our money widening highways, build bike paths instead ... between Hillsborough and Durham ... between Chapel Hill and Durham. I agree 100%.

 

*Click here for Ken's full assessment of DOLRT. 

 

Map showing a half mile circle around where the Gateway station will be located

 

 

1/2 mile is purportedly the maximum distance that people will walk or bike to get to a station.  See 6:52 into the video.

 

I don't see people crossing 15-501 without a pedestrian bridge being installed.  See 11:30 into the video.

 

Follow-up

 

 

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