New hope for Cincinnati light rail
The Business Courier has the story.
A light rail system is exactly what this city needs. I'll have my fingers crossed on this one.
Ohio and Hamilton County officials are working to parlay $24.5 million in federal money earmarked for riverfront parking into funding for what would be the region's first light rail line. Planning is in the early stages. But the potential is so strong that Ohio Department of Transportation Director Gordon Proctor recently declared the project the region's best shot at building light rail.
"The tracks are there," he said after an Aug. 1 meeting of the Hamilton County Transportation Improvement DisÂtrict. "And it appears there will be even more of a destination on the riverfront."
The whole plan hinges on the success of The Banks, the riverfront development that will consist of as much as 1.4 million square feet of retail, residential and office space between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park.
County officials and their development team, The Banks Development Co., need the federal money to help build the $55 million in parking garages planned to lift the development out of the flood plain and replace the surface parking lots that are there now.
Hamilton County, the Reds and the Bengals all share in the revenue generated by the parking lots between the football stadium and ballpark. And county officials don't want to give up that revenue, which helps pay down the debt that Hamilton County issued to build the sports facilities.
But under federal rules, the county and teams cannot keep any revenue generated by garages built with the federal funds.
So county and state officials are working on a plan that would segregate a percentage of revenue generated by the garages, based on the percentage of the total project cost that is paid for using the federal dollars.
That revenue could then be used to help fund a $450 million light rail line that eventually could stretch 18 miles -- from The Banks all the way to Milford.
A light rail system is exactly what this city needs. I'll have my fingers crossed on this one.
