Missoulian - Rail transit for area could be long haul<br><img src="/newsart/smallmike.gif">

Andy Sponseller, left, and Alex Taft of the Missoula Urban Transporation District plan to be heavily involved in efforts to establish a light rail transit system in this area.
BILL SCHWANKE/Missoulian.com
Listen here for Bill Schwanke's interview with Sponseller and Taft.

Andy Sponseller and Alex Taft are passionate about the idea of adding commuter rail to the transportation mix in and around Missoula and, farther down the road, perhaps all the way to Hamilton.

But both realize making that happen will be a long haul.

One expert who spoke at a nearly daylong discussion session in Missoula June 15 made it clear something like this doesn’t happen overnight. Lewis Ames, senior program management analyst for the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, told those attending the session the effort could take 10 years and involve upwards of 500 meetings. Some 130 people representing different community interests were on hand for the event.

But Sponseller and Taft remain enthused about the possibility and felt good about the turnout at the June 15 meeting as well as the discussion there and the reaction they’ve heard since.

“We were pleased,” Sponseller said, adding that he detected a high level of enthusiasm throughout the day. “I think most of the folks that came were really pleased that they learned something, and that was the idea behind the whole thing.”

Taft - who spent 35 years of his career life in transportation - concurred and said it was key that the two main speakers - Ames and G.B. Arrington, transportation consultant for Parsons Brinckerhoff of Portland, Ore. - covered the rail line itself and how it could be converted into a commuter line and also the link between land use and economic development to the transit system.

Taft also talked about comments by former Missoula mayor Dan Kemmis who pointed out that Caras Park has helped attract businesses to the city’s downtown area.

“The rail is going to do the same kind of thing,” Taft explained. “It’s going to attract businesses and compact housing development to perhaps Hamilton, Lolo and in Missoula itself. Connecting to the airport and the university would also grow those economic engines in our city.”

Ordinary citizens already have offered their volunteer services to the effort since attending the June 15 discussion. Taft thinks that means people are looking for champions to carry the idea forward, and he and Sponseller are willing to fill at least part of that role.

Both serve on the Missoula Urban Transportation District board, one of the organizing entities, and Taft said that group is committed to put the idea through its own planning process. A meeting already has been set to look at next steps in the process.

No doubt there will be a large number of key players if commuter rail is to be established and work in this area. Sponseller said initially they are looking for “definite yes people that don’t have to think hard about it.”

He listed the Missoula Redevelopment Agency and the Missoula Downtown Association as “very positive” toward the idea. Other early contacts will be the Lolo Community Council and the Missoula Chamber of Commerce. Sponseller said it’s a “systematic job that we have in front of us to talk with the players and get them on board and get people enthusiastic,” but there are some core players already in place to help move the idea forward.

Since Montana Rail Link owns the railroad right of way into the Bitterroot and Missoula, it is a major key. Ellen Buchanan of the MRA already has had discussions with MRL, and the rail company was represented at the June 15 meeting.

“They will be the landlord of these tracks,” Taft point out, “and we will be going to the federal government to supply a lot of the funds to improve those tracks to run the passenger rail on, and that will be a benefit to them as a landlord and use of the tracks.”

Taft said MRL also owns a fair amount of land along the route that could be available for development to support the (passenger) stations that will have to be put in place.

Another entity that has expressed interest is the University of Montana. Sponseller said a UM spokesman told him the school is interested in expanding night classes and thinks rail transit would be a good way to get students from outlying areas involved.

“They are conceptually supportive of a project like this,” Sponseller said of UM, “and of course they would be one of the most important (entities) lined up to support this project.”

Taft agrees with the idea that the quality of life will drive economic development in Montana, and that rail transit would be one element of supporting that notion. As more and more people come to that conclusion he expects the list of supporters at all levels to grow.

While 10 years seems like a long time, putting together a commuter rail system just from Missoula to Lolo is a monumental task. Sponseller said Ames was trying to be conservative during the June 15 discussion in Missoula while illustrating how comprehensive and well thought out the effort needs to be.

“Certainly it could be done in less time,” Sponseller said. “What … is necessary is that we go after this methodically, and that people understand what it is we’d like to have in terms of benefit and what it has to offer.”

Any project like this is going to beg the question, “Who’s going to pay for this?” Taft said if things go well half of the money should come from the federal program, most likely through a program called Small Starts that focuses on small transit starts running on existing rail lines in most cases.

“We’ll be looking towards our congressional delegation to help us out on that,” Taft said. “We’ll have to fill out forms that demonstrate that we have the land-use policies in Missoula County and the city of Missoula that are going to be supportive. Having people in Washington who will be helpful will help us a lot.”

Taft pointed out that Sen. Max Baucus has been on that body’s transportation committee for several years and has shown the ability to steer federal funds back to Montana.

“We’re going to have to be innovative in looking for the local match for that,” Taft went on, “but within Mountain Line we have the authority to have part of the local tax mill rate come to us. We’ll probably be looking to go to the state Legislature to help us out.”

During the June 15 session Ames said buying rail cars and other equipment jointly with other communities doing similar projects could be a tremendous help in terms of saving costs.

While the MUTD can deal with commuter rail in the immediate area other collaborations will be necessary if the project expands further south in the future.

“This is a comprehensive project that has a lot of synergy between communities up and down the 93 corridor,” Sponseller noted, “and of course we’re gonna need to get together and figure out how we’re going to regionally address this. There’s going to be huge benefit from working together.”

Beyond the MUTD Missoula has a Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee which likely will be the entity asking for federal funding. But Taft said the feds are going to want to see evidence of cooperation among entities before they get involved financially.

“Is Missoula cooperating for this?” he said. “Have they set aside any turf wars? Who runs the show? We don’t care. We want the product. Whatever works for people as far as how we set it up … is fine with us.”

Early on Sponseller said it will be important to hook up with state government officials from the administration to the Legislature to the transportation department to figure out a funding stream for a regional approach to transportation, a relatively new concept for Montana.

“We have large developing areas like the 93 corridor which essentially stretches from Idaho to Canada and is fast becoming populated,” he said. “We need to sit down in earnest and figure out how we’re going to address these problems jointly. And they’re not problems, they’re challenges actually. And they’re not any challenge that we can’t meet.”

The test, Sponseller concluded, is whether or not the Missoula community and others can meet the challenge in a cooperative fashion.

“The day of competing with one area or another for the funding stream is pretty much over,” Sponseller said. “We’re gonna have to address transportation in our state in a comprehensive manner. So this is a statewide issue. It’s something that rural and urban folks need to work together on.”

Taft said there always will be cynics who will say rail transit will never happen in this area. But he’s seen it work.

“Light rail transit is the fastest growing form of transportation in this country,” Taft said. “People are seriously understanding that gas ain’t gonna be cheap in the future, that we are going to address greenhouse gasses, and this rail line is one of those elements that’s gonna do that.

Sponseller pointed out that W.A. Clark, one of the Copper Kings, envisioned an electric rail system from Darby to Whitefish at the beginning of the 1900s.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said, “and I think it’s time to readdress W.A. Clark’s vision.”

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