By BOB D. ROUNSAVELL on Sep 6, 2013, at 2:21 AM Updated on 9/06/13 at 3:54 AM
Perhaps "passenger rail hoax" more accurately describes Oklahoma Department of Transportation's plans for rail transportation service between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Its plan for high-speed service would bypass communities like Sapulpa, Bristow, Stroud and Chandler. The need for boosting economic development along the Eastern Flyer corridor is daily, frequent round trips uniting the state's two major population centers as well as communities between them.
The Turner Turnpike carries about 70,000 vehicles daily, far more than any other state highway. It is highly congested, especially with heavy trucks. The planned six lanes will produce extreme stress, more traffic accidents and higher auto insurance rates. Who needs that?
For some reason, the department of transportation is able to plan for only more auto traffic on roads and bridges. Any good department of transportation in the 21st century plans for a comprehensive transportation system capable of moving both people and goods.
That would feature buses, street cars, light rail within metro areas, commuter rail between communities, bicycle and walking trails, and automobiles. Building and maintaining these other transportation modes will require less money than having only autos.
Even though ODOT has gotten rid of 50 percent of state rail tracks, the remaining 431 miles makes a good start for developing a statewide passenger rail system. The key section of state-owned track runs 97.5 miles from Oklahoma City to Sapulpa.
This old Frisco line was acquired by BNSF in the 1990s, eventually sold to the state and leased to a shortline rail operator in Pittsburg, Kan. and has been upgraded and maintained. Also known as the Sooner Sub, or the Stillwater Central, it now makes a good profit.
Rumors at the state Capitol, however, are that BNSF wants to buy it back now that it is once again profitable. ODOT is proposing to sell it soon.
If that happens, Tulsa and the state will probably once again be left out in the cold without adequate passenger rail service.
Oklahoma has owned more miles of track than any other state. We have had the potential to develop a statewide rail system second to none but the transportation department has never accepted the responsibility.
In these tough economic times, failure to use our assets may haunt us into the future. Political leadership or lack of it would not be a desirable legacy to leave future generations.
The current high-speed rail study by the transportation department is unnecessary.
Funding estimates to initiate commuter rail service between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, range from $50 million to $90 million.
One private operator told the Tulsa Rail Advisory Committee that with $50 million in state funding his company could do any upgrading on the existing Eastern Flyer route, provide all the rolling stock and have service established in six months of signing a contract.
The state's funding share represents precious little to establish as many as eight daily round-trips and five on weekends, which this private operator claims he can do.
So, what are we waiting for, Oklahoma? Let's do it right for a change.
Bob D. Rounsavell, president of the Carrie Dickerson Foundation, served as the Tulsa-area representative on the Eastern Flyer Passenger Rail Development Task Force in 2012. He is also a member of Passenger Rail Oklahoma.
Original Print Headline: Don't fall for great passenger rail hoax
Reader Forum
The incarceration rate in Oklahoma is among the highest in the nation with approximately 26,000 people behind bars at any given time.
The Nov. 28, 2008, Tulsa World published my Readers Forum piece, "Antietam," in which I reported on a visit my then-8-year-old grandson, Stevie, and I made to Antietam battlefield in rural Maryland.
