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Union Station Politics
August 04, 2005
This afternoon I went on a tour of the maginificent Oklahoma City Union Station. It’s a beautiful station, in marvelous condition, and currently used as the base of Metro Transit. It even has two still-operable rail lines behind it (of the original four).
Well, as of the passing of national highway bill, the new I-40 Crosstown project will proceed right through the rail yards of Union Station. For years, people have kept Union Station in mind as a regional transit hub, b/c the rail lines it connects to travel to almost all points across Oklahoma. With the construction of the Crosstown, however, the rail will disappear (except for one replaced UP track) and be replaced by a ten-lane, in-ground highway. This new highway (fifteen feet deep actually… is it still a highway?) will replace the current I-40 placement five blocks north. The out-of-service I-40 will be turned into a boulevard. The plan sounds relatively simple, especially since local transportation officials actually seem to think that Union Station is not necessary for local transit, b/c it is so far south of downtown and Bricktown, as well as at a different grade than Amtrak (at grade compared to above-grade for Amtrak).
The biggest problems I can see here are politics (go figure!) and historical preservation. The station is on the National Historic Register. It’s beaufitul, in mint-condition, and still in prime location for rail service. But it’s far south of downtown. Bringing the current highway five blocks south will actually open up downtown to more growth, getting rid of the ugly eyesore so close to Bricktown. And, since Amtrak is on the above-grade BNSF route, it’s easier to build commuter and light rail connections to the existing (and also beautiful) Sante Fe Station. The fact that Union Station is so beautiful and may have, at one time, been perfect for rail is tough to get over. If I-40 had never been built, maybe downtown would have expanded closer to Union Station, and it could be utilized, but that’s not history, so we must deal with what we can.
Politics. I heard a large amount of name-calling on my tour today. My guide didn’t feel like holding himself back today (which was ok, it was just him, an AP reporter and myself). The people at the top of his hit list were ODOT officials, the Governor, Rep. Istook and Senator Inhofe. To me, Istook is the most interesting person here.
Congressman Istook serves in many committees, and in each he’s on an appropriations subcommittee. Therefore, he’s extremely involved in how government money is spent. In fact, he’s Chairman of the Transportation and Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee. His Chairmanship of this committee is intruiging. As Chair, he was able to secure a large amount of Federal funding for the Crosstown, but, in the past, he has never once supported support of light rail, commuter rail or Amtrak in Oklahoma. That in itself isn’t too odd - there are many Congressmen/women who do not support rail like they do roads. But something else sticks out. He has been instrumental in securing large amounts of Federal funding of light rail in Salt Lake City. In fact, he approved the re-allocation of millions of dollars from OKC Transit funding to Salt Lake City. From the (mostly biased) information I get, Rep. Istook is largely a fiscal conservative, unless it comes to large road funding or to funding any type of project in Utah.
That sickens me. I don’t care if he’s a Mormon (Which he is, so that adds another thing into the mess. Mentioning his relgion automatically makes the critiquer a bigot - in his eyes). As a constituent, I want him working on my needs, not someone in another state. He supports light rail there, but never has here. What the heck? Seriously… He needs to be voted out, but, as my guide mentioned today, it ain’t gonna happen; most Oklahomans wouldn’t think twice about voting for him.
But back to the main point. It seems light rail at Union Station is doomed. Unless the Governor stops the I-40 contracts from being awarded, it’s on from here (one massive bridge contract has already been awarded). My tour guide mentioned a possible lawsuit and state and/or federal grand juries also, but I think that’s a pipe dream. Honestly, I feel horrible about losing this structure as a transit spot, but I’m excited about moving the crosstown south (into an area where this is almost no relocation necessary), and opening downtown and Bricktown to more development.
Posted by paul at August 4, 2005 07:38 PM
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