Light Rail

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KCATA Evaluating Transit Alternatives

The KCATA, working with the City of Kansas City, Mo., and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is conducting a detailed evaluation of transit alternatives in the North/South corridor. This involves the completion of a formal Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (AA/DEIS). The AA/DEIS will provide a detailed analysis of the alternatives recommended by the Citizens’ Task Force and approved by KCATA and the city last fall, and possible additional options. This evaluation is necessary to request funding for major transit investments through the FTA.

During this phase of the project, the KCATA will look at a range of transit alternatives that can meet the needs of maintaining high capacity transit connections in one of the region’s densest population and employment corridors. Those alternatives will include a review of alignments, as well as technologies such as bus rapid transit and light rail.

The AA/DEIS is the formal decision-making process that reviews the relative impacts of the different alternatives. These include ridership, economic and neighborhood development, and environmental impacts such as noise and air quality.

The AA/DEIS was formally initiated on February 27 with both public and agency Scoping meetings that described the problems that the alternatives are intended to address (purpose and need statement), the range of alternatives and anticipated impacts to be studied. The purpose of the Scoping meetings was to request early public input on key elements of the AA/DEIS. That is, the need for the project, what alternatives should be studied and finally what are the important issues that need particular focus in AA/DEIS. Some of those issues will be the ability of the alternatives to preserve and stimulate economic development in the corridor, serve transit-dependent populations and provide improved transit access to employment centers north of the Missouri River.

The comment period for the Scoping Meeting is open until March 17. Comments are welcome on any aspect of the project. You can submit comments via this website http://www.kansascitylightrail.org or in writing to:

Dick Jarrold, KCATA Project Manager
North/South Corridor AA/DEIS
1200 E. 18th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108

The AA/DEIS will continue to include extensive public involvement throughout the study. Public involvement, through both formal and informal meetings with local citizens, elected officials, community institutions and businesses will provide valuable input into the final recommendation for a transit investment strategy.