OKLAHOMA CITY — It was said that when the Trans Siberian railroad was planned that the Russian Czar Nicholas II drew a line on a map to designate the route that railway would take to link Siberia to the Russian city of Moscow. The fact that the line drawn by the Russian monarch did not take into account pre-existing trade routes and the topography and geography of the area was not raised by any of the officials who were involved in the construction of the rail line who were accustomed to the autocratic government of Russia.
But a plan for a mass transit system for downtown Oklahoma City was the result of a decision made by a committee selected for that purpose that hosted a series of meetings to encourage public participation in the decision. And that plan recently was unveiled at a meeting at the First Methodist Church Auditorium in downtown Oklahoma City.
Larry Hopper, of the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority, addressed the gathering and spoke of how Oklahoma City’s development was shaped in large part by the streetcar system known as the Interurban that was constructed in its downtown area in the early years of the 20th Century, and how that system was in time extended to Edmond and other suburbs.
He also said that the most recent MAPS project allocated sales tax revenues in the amount of $120 million for a new mass transit for the downtown area and another $10 million for a intermodal transit hub. Many other cities such as Tuscon, Seattle and Portland have mass transit systems that are similar to the one that is being proposed for downtown Oklahoma City. Mike McAnelly, the project manager for the Jacobs Group that prepared the plan, explained with charts how the proposed system would run in a parallel route from Reno Avenue to 19th Street in the MidCity area and also would include a line from Fourth Street that would connect to the Health Science Center and the State Capital Complex. The streetcars would be light rail vehicles that would stop every three or four blocks, and a vehicle would be at every stop in 12 minutes intervals during the day. They would run less frequently at night.
While most light rail systems are powered by electricity it is possible that Oklahoma City’s streetcars could be powered by compressed natural gas, a fuel source that is found in abundance in Oklahoma, and already powers some of the busses that currently run on the city’s thoroughfares. McAnelly further reported that his firm estimated that more than 1,200 people would ride on the system in its first year of operation. He also detailed that the cost for the project would be slightly more than $158 million, and explained that the project would need federal funding as well to become a reality, and that the federal government could contribute $75 million as part of the federal grants given to cities for mass transit systems.
The communities of Edmond, Norman, Midwest City and Yukon are currently involved in the plans for the intermodal transit hub that could in time serve as a center for a regional mass transit system connecting those suburbs to the streetcars that are planned for downtown Oklahoma City.
Several other cities, including Dallas, have built downtown rail systems that have been subsequently extended to their suburbs. And in time the Oklahoma City metropolitan area may have a public transportation system that will help make it a place where people from across the world come to live and pursue their dreams.
