(Don’t look for another Naked City post next week. I’m taking some vacation. Back in the office April 9. ‘Til then, happy reading. Check out planetizen.com if you get bored.)
OK, gang, here are some transit-related tidbits (and some color art at the end) for you — a little red meat for your weekend.
— The cost of building the South Corridor light rail was estimated in 1998 in 1998 dollars at $227 million. As of 2007 the cost will be $463 million. That’s a bit more than double the preliminary estimate. (In 2007 dollars, $227 million would be $282.7 million.)
— The cost of building the third runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in 1998 was estimated at $80 million. The construction cost now is $240 million, according to City Manager Pam Syfert. That’s triple the preliminary estimate. ($80 million in 1998 dollars would be equivalent to $99.6 million today.)
— The cost to build the western leg of Interstate 485 was originally estimated at $385 million. Its current cost is $676 million.
— The southern leg of I-485 was originally estimated to cost $78.3 million. It cost $268 million, or 343 percent over original budget. Most of us would say it should have cost a lot more, in order to add lanes in each direction.
How many local voters are out there howling about those airport cost overruns? Those highway cost overruns?
Here’s an interesting quote from City council member Don Lochman, long the council’s most fiscally conservative member, at Monday’s council discussion about CATS: “I don’t get bent out of shape over cost overruns.” (He isn’t a fan of rail transit, he made clear.)
A final tidbit before you get to the art: Since 1998 the city’s contribution to run the bus service has been frozen at its 1998 level: $18.6 million. If the transit tax disappeared and the city continued to run bus service, that total would certainly rise. Inflation since 1998 makes $18.6 million worth roughly $23.2 million.
Below are comparisons: The first map is CATS bus routes today. Since the transit tax began the number of buses went from 134 to 328 and routes went from 47 to 76. The next map is a preliminary estimate of bus service IF the transit tax goes away and IF City Council decides to hold property taxes increases as low as possible but still run city bus service. (CATS is a countywide bus service, not limited to the city.)
Obviously, council could choose to cut the city budget to find bus service money to try to avoid raising property taxes. Some folks say that’s an easy solution. They’re dreaming. I’ve watched many councils over many years. They simply are not going to dismember police, fire or other city departments. They’d have done so already.
