Light rail costs based on route

Preliminary light rail cost estimates range between $235 million and $600 million, not including rights-of-way or trains, for the corridor between Tampa's future high speed rail station and Tampa International Airport.

The large range between estimates depends mostly on which route is ultimately selected. Planners will make their route recommendations on Aug. 16.

Travel time between downtown and the airport along Interstate 275, the more expensive east-west corridor, would be about 20 minutes for a 7.1 mile route compared with about 26 minutes for a 7.6 mile route along Cypress Street.

The other routes for light rail won't be cheap, either. Estimates for a corridor between Cross Creek in the northeast suburbs east of Interstate 75, the University of South Florida, the high speed station and Whiting Street downtown range between $1 billion and $1.1 billion, figures released Monday by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority show.

Travel time from Cross Creek to the University of South Florida would be 21 minutes, and 31 minutes from USF to the high speed station along I-275 and Busch Boulevard.

Travel times are subject to the number of stations on the route, how fast the train can accelerate and decelerate, and the amount of time allotted for stops.

HART is expected to seek federal matching funds for both corridors, rather than just one as envisioned months ago, to jump start light rail in Tampa, officials said Monday.

Hillsborough County voters will decide in a Nov. 2 referendum whether to enact a 1-cent county sales tax increase to provide funds dedicated to rail, bus and nontransit mobility improvements.

HART is scheduling six weeks of public review and input between Aug. 16, when planners recommend specific routes, and a Sept. 27 public hearing. Then the HART board will select routes to submit to the Federal Transit Administration in November for New Starts funding.

That means referendum voters will get a chance to review HART's detailed proposals before casting their ballots, and federal officials will learn whether the county is willing to financially back transit improvements before considering Tampa's requests.

"Our plans won't be real exciting if the referendum fails," said HART board chairman Ron Govin, a Temple Terrace city council member.