Regional transit election likely by early 2025, will fund commuter rail network

From The Oklahoman | By Steve Lackmeyer | Published: May 22, 2023

Oklahoma City, Edmond and Norman residents will likely be asked by early 2025 to decide whether to approve a sales tax to create a regional transit system that would include a mix of commuter rail and bus rapid transit.

In addition to establishing frequent fast connections between the three cities and Tinker Air Force Base, talks underway with the BNSF Railroad include track improvements that would reduce or eliminate trains parking across street crossings.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma (RTA), led by former Gov. Brad Henry, is a separate government entity and votes would be tallied from residents of all three cities. A new timeline shows planning will begin soon on a west route and a route to Will Rogers World Airport with preferred alternatives due to be chosen by fall of 2024 with an election as early as that winter.

Henry said the Regional Transportation Authority is entering a new phase in which much of the work leading up to the election is structured to begin an application for Federal Transit Administration funding — if local funding is approved by residents in the transit district boundaries.

“We’re really beginning to move fast as we wrap up our studies,” Henry said. “Once we are in the FTA process, we have a limited timeframe to complete all the requirements.”

A TexRAIL commuter train is stopped at a platform in downtown Fort Worth. A similar operation is being looked at for connecting Edmond, Oklahoma City and Norman.

Kathryn Holmes, a Regional Transportation Authority consultant, said her talks with the BNSF and Tinker Air Force Base officials are going well.

The BNSF has a memorandum of understanding with the authority to cooperate in using its corridor between Edmond and Norman. Those talks will include drafting an agreement with BNSF to operate the commuter rail service with improvements to be made by the Regional Transportation Authority.

“There will be a need for capital investment and additional rail, so it’s not like we can just put a train on the track and start the service,” Holmes said. “It’s a matter of improving capacity so passenger rail and freight rail can co-exist. We expect that implementation of these improvements will solve the problem of freight trains blocking traffic. That is part of the negotiations.”

The proposed regional transit system coincides with funding to extend the AMTRAK Heartland Flyer to Kansas and expand EMBARK bus rapid transit.

Proposed regional transit line would have 10 stops

Liz Scalon, project manager, recommended the authority look at creating 10 stops, including a special event stop at the University of Oklahoma for game days and other large capacity events. 

Larger regional collector stations with park-and-ride lots will be located in north Edmond, likely either at Covell or Sorghum Mill roads, at the John Kilpatrick Turnpike, NW 63, a north Oklahoma City stop, SE 29, Tecumseh Road and south Norman.

Community stations will be located in downtown Edmond, the Santa Fe station in downtown Oklahoma City and the Santa Fe station in downtown Norman.

Part of the consideration for regional transit is not just improving public transit or relieving traffic from the congested Interstate 35 corridor, but also to spur transit-oriented development. The Regional Transportation Authority is funded through annual appropriations from the three member cities, but that funding is not enough to secure property for the system’s future stations.

Where would Edmond’s regional transit stop be located?

During a recent discussion in Edmond, city council members indicated they are supportive of the project. But they also expressed concern that the corridor through downtown Edmond is already rapidly developing and that locations for a station may be scarce if they wait until after an election to determine whether work will proceed.

“Until we have funding, we are asking the cities to make sure that while we are following the federal process, to at least secure property in some fashion,” Holmes said. “At the end of the day, the maintenance facility serving all the communities and the stations will be funded by the RTA.”

Edmond Mayor Darrell Davis said the city owns land along the tracks and is looking at what might be the best location for a downtown station. He said the city is continuing to host community workshops to keep residents informed about the effort and how it might benefit their community.

Rush hour traffic makes its way along I-35 near SE 20 Street in Oklahoma City.

Elimination of trains parking across roads is seen as essential to Edmond as it sees development of a parking garage, apartments and homes west of the tracks downtown.

“The RTA solution will remove the train bottleneck we have in downtown Edmond,” Davis said. “The staging they will be doing on the double track will be done somewhere else and will not impede our traffic.”

Oklahoma City, meanwhile, is looking at potential stops as well. The Santa Fe station is set up to be an intermodal hub that already serves AMTRAK and has streetcar track along E.K. Gaylord between it and Prairie Surf Studios. The studios, in the old Cox Convention Center, are a top location for a possible new arena should voters approve funding in an election likely to be held later this year.

A similar commuter rail would, if approved by voters in Oklahoma City, Edmond and Norman, create an alternative travel option on University of Oklahoma football game days and other big events.

The Heartland Flyer is already a popular way to travel to the annual OU-Texas football game in Dallas. The RTA commuter rail also would include a special event station at the University of Oklahoma that might serve in a similar manner.

Scanlon advised the Regional Transportation Authority to be cautious in how many of the stops they end up with and how they are included in the commuter train schedule.

“Someone who is going from Edmond to Norman isn’t going to want 15 stops slowing them down,” Scanlon said. “But you don’t want to speed through a community, and nobody can ride it.”

What’s next for the RTA’s plan for a commuter train between Edmond and Norman?

Much of the final phase of planning before the election will involve determining preferred local alternatives on routes and compiling capital and operation cost estimates needed before the election and required for application for federal funding. Scanlon recommended the authority go with commuter rail between Edmond and Norman and bus rapid transit for the connection to Tinker Air Force Base.

The routes are set for final approval this summer, along with hiring financial planning and engineering consultants. Scanlon said route planning for the west link and link to Will Rogers World Airport will start this summer with completion in one year.

Rail exists as an option for the west and airport link similar to the north-south BNSF line. Scanlon said those routes could also be done as bus rapid transit. Rail, she said, is not a likely start for the Tinker route.

Scanlon said her studies looked at starting the Tinker link along Shields Boulevard passing Capitol Hill but chose to go along Reno Avenue instead.

“There are transit riders on this (Shields) corridor now,” Scanlon said. “But there may be challenges for it to catalyze economic development. There is fragmented ownership. There aren’t a lot of large parcels. There is a lot of mix uses on this corridor; residential, commercial, some industrial.”

In addition, Scanlon said, the city is looking at southbound bus rapid transit line funded by MAPS 4 that may overlap with the Shields route.

She also acknowledged the SE 29 approach comes with its own challenges including the question of how to balance the need for a lane for bus rapid transit with the risk of taking out a traffic lane for vehicles. The ridership currently doesn’t support building rail from scratch, she said, but planning needs to preserve rail as a future option.

“We’re looking at a mode appropriate for the length of the corridor and the ridership we see on that corridor,” Scanlon said. “We’re not precluding a future rail commute, but that’s a very expensive investment and if there are not enough riders, it may not be a good return on that investment.”

The Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma is looking at using bus rapid transit for an east route connecting downtown Oklahoma City with Tinker Air Force Base. A northwest Oklahoma City bus rapid transit operation, the city’s first, is set to open later this year.

Holmes said Tinker is enthusiastically involved in planning the route that they see tying into their planning for a new base public transportation system. 

When Midwest City and Del City withdrew from the Regional Transportation Authority last year, that prompted concerns about locating a station within Oklahoma City limits, which stops at the baseline. Tinker officials responded with an offer to change the fence line to make way for a line outside of the base that would in some way connect with its transit system at the Lancer Gate on Douglas Boulevard.

How would an election for an RTA line work?

The timing of a possible regional transit election is likely just a year after Oklahoma City voters will be asked to fund construction of a new arena. Mayor David Holt, a supporter of the RTA, said the city cannot dictate the timing of an regional transit election any more than it can a school bond referendum.

“The RTA is a separate government,” Holt said. “They can call for an election, and it would not be us calling it though our citizens are part of the RTA. Sometimes elections are called by the city, county or schools and in the minds of voters, it may be the same. But they are different.”

Should voters approve an RTA sales tax, Holmes and Scanlon estimated finalizing agreements with the Federal Transit Administration, Tinker Air Force Base and the BNSF will take up to two years. Construction of rail improvements, stations, acquisition of trains and buses along with staffing will take another five to seven years.

Holmes, who started working with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments and then the Regional Transportation Authority in 2017, said Oklahoma City is following the approach taken 20 years earlier when she was hired by Salt Lake City to help develop their regional transit network.

“Fast forward 25 years and you can’t imagine how much it has transformed their community,” Holmes said. “We’ve been working very hard to bring all of this together so that by June of 2024 we should have a whole lot of information and decide whether to go to voters.”