Plans advancing for a proposed passenger rail to link OKC with surrounding towns and cities

From The Oklahoman | By Steve Lackmeyer | Published: August 9, 2021

As an attorney who often appears in court, Matthew Allen sometimes leaves his Norman home an hour early just to ensure rush hour traffic along Interstate 35 doesn’t delay his appearance at hearings in downtown Oklahoma City. 

“I can’t be late,” Allen explains. “I’ve never figured out a consistent time to leave Norman and get downtown between 8 and 8:15. Traffic is just too inconsistent; I leave my house at 6:30 just to avoid it.” 

First year law student Max Federman spent this summer making the daily trek between his home in north Oklahoma City and the University of Oklahoma. He is not looking forward to continuing the commute over the next three years. 

“It’s at least a 40-minute commute,” Federman said. “My classes this summer were usually at 10:30 in the morning. I can get stuck in traffic, easily, for an hour. And I could drive the same length back home from 4:30 to 6.” 

Within a couple of years Allen and Federman may get the chance to vote for an alternative means of transportation; a rail-based regional transit system that might also run east to Tinker Air Force Base, north to Edmond, west to Yukon and also to Will Rogers World Airport. 

About 15 years ago, a mix of leaders from Oklahoma City and its suburbs, transportation planners and passenger rail enthusiasts began a series of meetings that in 2015 evolved into a Regional Transit Task Force covering Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, Moore, Midwest City and Del City. 

The task force and its members then successfully petitioned the Oklahoma legislature to allow for the creation of regional transportation authorities that consist of multiple municipalities and can submit funding propositions to voters to fund transit systems. 

The cities contribute to the RTA’s funding and each have a representative on the authority board (Oklahoma City has two based on population and its larger contribution). 

Final planning

Led by former Gov. Brad Henry, the trust recently approved a regional corridors plan that will be shared with residents whose input will be sought as technical and cost evaluations are continued by consultant Kimley Horn. 

Kimley Horn is in the second year of a four-year study that Henry said will likely be followed by an application for funding from the Federal Transit Administration and a sales tax election. 

“We’ve got to get federal funding,” Henry said. “We’ll also have to have a source of revenue for a local match; they won’t give 100%. It might be 80/20 or 70/30, and that’s a good deal. And given the current administration’s focus on rail, I think now is the right time for Oklahoma to strike.” 

Each corridor is at a different stage of evaluation. Assumptions on costs, station locations and transit options made by the task force in 2015 were all set aside with the start of the Kimley Horn study. 

Kathryn Holmes previously was chief negotiator for the Utah Transportation Authority before she was hired by local regional transit authority to help on organization and operations. 

“The numbers they had are old, they’re just not valid in any way,” Holmes said. “I get nervous when anyone starts using them. You have to pay for access to the rail corridor. It’s not free. It’s unclear what assumptions were made on acquisition of right of way.” 

The old study, she said, assumed more stations than what will likely be needed. And the authority has thrown out an assumption that a streetcar similar to the one downtown would be the best option for linking downtown and Tinker Air Force Base for an east route. 

“Can you imagine a streetcar to Midwest City with the number of platforms we have now?” asked Jason Ferbrache, director of EMBARK. 

Ferbrache, whose agency is contracted to administer the fledgling transit authority, said Liz Scanlon with Kimley Horn is starting over with studies of the east corridor with options being either a light rail or bus rapid transit. 

Unlike the other corridors, the east corridor does not provide an existing freight or passenger rail that can be shared by a commuter service so anything along that corridor likely will be built from scratch. 

Looking at modes

It’s at this point in the discussion that a definition of each mode is helpful to understanding the different options possible with regional, inter-modal public transit: 

• Bus rapid transit typically runs along longer routes with higher ridership. The vehicles have greater spacing than regular fixed route bus operations. Bus rapid transit vehicles operate in a designated lane or right of way with stations spaced between every half to full mile.

Frequency is typically five to 15 minutes and the cost is $1.31 per passenger mile. EMBARK is designing a bus rapid transit corridor between downtown and far northwest Oklahoma City with two more planned for south and east Oklahoma City funded through MAPS 4. 

• Streetcars operate in shared lanes or in designated right-of-way. They are used as last-mile connectors for shorter trip lengths and powered by overhead catenary system. They typically operate at 20 to 25 mph with stations closely spaced and a frequency of every five to 15 minutes. They operate at $2.02 per passenger mile.  

• Light rail typically operates longer routes along high-ridership corridors. They run in designated right-of-way on standard rail tracks but are powered by overhead catenary system. They typically operate at 55 mph and stations are spaced about every mile with typical frequency of five to 15 minutes. They operate at 92 cents per passenger mile. 

• Commuter rail connects the urban core to surrounding suburbs and operates on standard rail tracks sharing access with freight rail and Amtrak (this matches up with an Edmond to Norman corridor sharing tracks with the BNSF). The trains are diesel powered and compare to Amtrak passenger cars and can operate at 79 mph. Stations are spaced every five to eight miles with frequency of 15 to 60 minutes. The operating cost is 51 cents per passenger mile. 

The west line and airport corridors, added during the more recent discussions, are not funded and two of the potentially benefiting cities, Yukon and Mustang, chose not to be a part of the RTA. EMBARK, acting on behalf of the authority, has applied for a $1.5 million federal grant that can be matched with $500,000 in local funding to add the corridors to the Kimley Horn study. 

Holmes sees a west route as a needed response to the growing number of neighborhoods being built in west Oklahoma City. Ferbrache said he expects an answer from the Federal Transit Administration this fall.  

“Oklahoma City goes way out west,” Ferbrache said. “Whether Yukon chooses to play, if there is a west corridor, in the board’s opinion it’s still a tremendous benefit to those living in far west Oklahoma City. I don’t think Yukon has to participate for that corridor to be successful.” 

A 20-year plan

If and when voters are asked to approve a tax to fund regional transit, part of the message will likely include a warning about the inability of highways like I-35 to adequately serve a metropolitan population that grew from 1.2 million to 1.4 million in just the last decade. 

The drive along I-35 won’t likely get any better. Cody Boyd, spokesman at the Department of Transportation, said remaining work on I-35 between downtown and Norman consists of rebuilding the Interstate 240 interchange and traffic flow improvements. 

But no further widening is planned for a stretch of highway that is one of the state’s busiest, carrying an average 147,000 vehicles daily. 

“It took 40 years and $400 million to widen I-35 from downtown to Norman,” Boyd said. “The area around it is built right up to the highway, so more widening is not really a possibility.” 

Henry believes the north-south corridor is closest to being ready for transit line and discussions are already underway with the BNSF about the possibility of the railway being contracted to operate the line to allow for coordinated dispatching. 

Not every line will launch at once, Henry added. 

“We’ve created a system plan,” Henry said. “It’s really just a vision for the next 20 years.” 

Economic development 

Proponents of passenger rail have long pointed to residential and commercial development along regional transit corridors in Utah and Texas as an example of how the RTA can spur investment in central Oklahoma. 

Matthew Allen sees the economic benefit of simply not driving two hours a day. 

“As a lawyer I bill my time and I don’t want an hour spent driving,” Allen said. “I’d rather check my emails. I’d be interested in using it on the weekends where I can take my kids to Scissortail Park and places like that.” 

Elizabeth Bass estimates she spends 45 minutes traveling from north Norman to her job at the Oklahoma History Center, a trip that is only 20 minutes on weekends. 

“The afternoon is harder,” Bass said. “I’ve adjusted my schedule so I can leave and pick up my kids at 6 p.m.. Leaving at 5 p.m. just doesn’t leave me enough time.” 

A commuter rail from Norman might not take Bass to NE 23 and Lincoln, but the route would connect with a streetcar and bus route that passes the history center. Bass said her husband also commutes to the city and carpooling could be an option with a commuter rail connection. 

“It depends on where the stations are,” Bass said. “I might not do it every day. But at least part of the week I’d do it. It would give me more time to sit and not drive.” 

Bass, Allen and Federman spoke to The Oklahoman after a social media request was posted for individuals to discuss their travels between downtown Oklahoma City and Norman. All three said they would likely support a tax to create regional transit. 

A survey completed by Kansas-based ETC Institute and commissioned by EMBARK reports a healthy regional support for public transit even if it isn’t used by a majority of the population.

The survey of 973 Oklahoma City residents and 302 residents who had not used EMBARK the prior year showed 69% think it is important to support and fund improved public transit and that 57% believe the current regional transit funding should “at lease be somewhat greater” than it is now. 

The survey reported 77% of non-rider residents feel EMBARK’s public transit service is valuable to the community and that 83% agreed with the statement “public transportation is important for a thriving community.” 

Henry is taking nothing for granted.  “It will be tricky to pass any kind of revenue source, but I think it can be done if we are transparent, if we seek public input, if we develop the right plan and we make the case and we don’t over-ask,” Henry said. “We have to do everything just right.”