Groups file challenge to OKC rail abandonment
The Norman Transcript
Common Cause Oklahoma, others challenge rail line in effort to save light rail infrastructure
By Melissa A. Wabnitz0
Transcript Staff Writer
A Washington, D.C., attorney, working on behalf of several central Oklahoma organizations, has filed a challenge to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's Crosstown highway relocation project by objecting to the legality of BNSF Railway Company's line abandonment.
If the 2.95-mile stretch is permitted to remain abandoned, said Fritz Kahn, an attorney working on behalf of Common Cause Oklahoma, North American Transportation Institute and the Bio-Energy Wellness Center in Oklahoma City, construction would be allowed to proceed on a 10-lane Interstate 40 extension.
Backing organizations claim that to make way for the construction much of the infrastructure that would allow for the future development of a rail system would be destroyed, including a direct route to Will Rogers World Airport from Union Station in downtown Oklahoma City.
O. Gail Poole said Union Station serves as an "irreplaceable hub."
"We aren't against the Crosstown project per se, but just the route they are taking," said Poole, of Norman, one of the individuals supporting Kahn's efforts. "The fact is the route was decided before the plans (for the Crosstown extension) were ever made public, at least that's what Garner Stoll, former Oklahoma City Planning Department Director believed, as do many others."
The extension's route, tagged "Alternative D," also would reduce public access to the renovated Oklahoma River as well as cause problems for pedestrians crossing the grade-level train tracks at the 2100 block of South Robinson and Walker Streets, said State Rep. Al Lindley, D-Oklahoma City, in support documents filed in the railroad governing board's Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C.
The legal wrangling began Nov. 7, just days shy of the BNSF's approved abandonment date, when Kahn submitted a formal protest to the Surface Transportation Board. Though the line abandonment was approved in late November, Kahn has kept up his effort to fight the Surface Transportation Board's decision. Most recently, Kahn submitted documents to the board Dec. 23 detailing company names and situations he claims directly contradict BNSF's statements that the abandoned lines weren't used by local traffic.
"I came in on the 24th hour," Kahn said. "But what we were saying is that the notice to abandon the line should be vacated ab initio, because it contains false and misleading information."
John Bowman, project manager for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said a main line and a spur will be allowed to remain at Union Station. Additionally, Bowman said, a Union Pacific rail line will be moved south of the station to allow for the installation of a second useable line in the event passenger rail activities return.
"The lines do tie up to nationwide ones," Bowman said. "As a matter of fact, by upgrading the Packingtown Lead we'll allow easier access to the Bricktown area."
Union Station's potential to be used as a passenger rail system "won't be destroyed," Bowman said. "But if you look at all of the studies conducted looking at the possibility of high-speed passenger rail in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, all of those studies have recommended Santa Fe Station as being utilized for that, not Union Station."
Poole said compared to the 11-track Union Station, using neighboring Santa Fe Station as a possible rail hub is "ridiculous." Besides offering fewer tracks, Santa Fe Station is centered downtown, where there is neither possibility for parking nor easy access on the elevated train tracks, he said.
Another criticism of the proposed Crosstown extension route, dangerous street-level crossings, "is not a legitimate complaint," said Bowman. "As a whole, we're decreasing the possibilities for those types of accidents to occur."
Poole said the groups seek, above all, a second look at the proposed route by an independent panel. If the full funding is approved in next year's legislative cycle, Bowman said, the project could be completed as early as January 2009.
"In the event the line abandonment is nullified by the Surface Transportation Board, some of the people in Oklahoma who did not get to participate in the board proceedings previously will do so," Kahn said. "It could sway the board to discontinue the project or possibly impose more rigorous conditions."
"Let's just stop for the next few months and appoint an independent committee to to see if the route is as destructive to Oklahoma's transportation future as it appears to be," Poole said. "And if the panel looks at it, studies it and says, 'Well, it's a perfectly well-thought-out-plan, then we'll shut up and we'll get out of the way -- we've been saying this for years."
Legal Challenge Filed Re I-40 Relocation
Originally Posted by Midtowner
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