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Expert: To Score Funding, Bay Area Needs Transit Plan

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2007

TAMPA - If the Tampa Bay area develops a detailed mass transit plan, the area can benefit from perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money, the head of Denver's transit agency told the city council.

During a 90-minute workshop Thursday, Cal Marsella told the board that his agency, Regional Transportation District, secured more than $500 million in federal funding to develop a rail system because the agency had a specific plan for the money.

"None of that money has come to Tampa," Marsella said. "There are no projects in the pike. You haven't done the homework to get the money."

City officials invited Marsella to town because Denver is widely considered a model of how to plan - and sell to voters - a transit system.

The Tampa Bay area is in the early stages of creating a mass transit plan for the region. Various funding options have been proposed, including a plan to increase the sales tax to pay for rail. Any plan is several years away from appearing on the ballot.

About three years ago, residents in Denver's eight-county transportation service area voted to increase the sales tax four-tenths of a cent to fund a 12-year plan to build and operate high-speed rail lines and improve bus service.

The result was FasTracks, a $6 billion effort to build 119 miles of new commuter and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, and 21,000 new parking spaces at rail and bus stations.

Marsella told the council on Thursday they should start planning now. He said when the plan initially went to Denver voters, the projected cost was more than $4 billion. Now the cost estimate tops $6 billion, which he attributed to materials price increases.

Councilwomen Linda Saul-Sena and Mary Mulhern said they wanted the council to make changes to the city's comprehensive plan to encourage rail. That would include measures such as allowing higher-density development near areas where rail stations might be built.

"We like this, we want this, we want to make this happen," Saul-Sena said.

Marsella's expenses, such as hotel costs, are to be reimbursed by the city. He did not receive a speaking stipend.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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