STA board approves application for Central City Line funding

Friday, April 21, 2017

(as reported in The Spokesman-Review by Mike Prager)

The Spokane Transit Authority board on Thursday approved an application to the federal government to help pay for a new Central City Line through downtown.

STA will now submit more than 1,900 pages of documents to the Federal Transit Administration for a grant under the Small Starts funding program.

“I am glad I don’t have to read all 1,900 pages,” joked Spokane City Council member Amber Waldref, who serves on the STA board of directors.

The board voted unanimously to seek $54 million from the Small Starts program out of the $72 million cost of the 6-mile line from Browne’s Addition to Spokane Community College by way of downtown, the University District and Gonzaga University.

Board members took the action even though the Small Starts program was proposed for elimination in President Donald Trump’s initial budget plan released last month.

Waldref and board member Al French, a Spokane County commissioner, have said they don’t think Congress will eliminate the program, which has been in place for many years and has enjoyed bipartisan support.

The Central City Line would operate with electric buses most likely powered by batteries.

The buses would run as often as seven to eight minutes apart during peak commuting and up to as long as every 30 minutes on weekends and off hours.

The application approved by the board Thursday will ask FTA to evaluate the planning and design work to date and then give the project a rating that will be used in choosing what projects around the country receive grants.

STA is hoping to have the money included in the fiscal 2019 federal budget so that construction can start in spring or summer of 2019. Completion would come two years later.

Karl Otterstrom, STA director of planning, said the commitment of Spokane-area voters for additional sales tax for transit improvement is part of the rating.

Voters last fall approved a tenth-of-a-penny sales tax increase that took effect April 1 and a second tenth-of-a-penny increase slated to go into effect in April 2019.

The taxes would expire at the end of 2028 unless voters approve an extension.

STA has lined up $15 million in state grant money and spent some of its own funds to satisfy matching requirements for the federal grant.

The FTA will also rate the project for its ability to improve mobility, congestion relief, cost-effectiveness, environmental benefit, land use and economic development.

The locations of passenger stops and stations have yet to be determined, although the route has been established.

Otterstrom said STA is going to work with property owners and others on choosing locations.

Planning for the project dates back more than six years.