Speed Bumps Arise In Kansas City Light Rail Plan

22 January 2007 - 8:00am

Land rights and high costs are proving to be major hurdles in Kansas City's bid to build a 27-mile light rail system.

"An assistant city attorney told the council that the light-rail route voters approved in November raised significant legal questions, including how the route could be built through existing park land."

"Another lawyer said it will take at least eight to 10 years for Kansas City to secure federal financing for a light-rail line."

"In November, Kansas City voters approved a measure to extend the city's current three-eighths-cent transportation sales tax for 25 years to build a $1 billion, 27-mile light-rail line. The initiative called for about 50 percent of the line's cost to be paid with federal money."

Source: Kansas City Business Journal, January 18, 2007
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At a much larger economic scale, however, one mustn’t avoid calculating the tremendous and exceptional externalities of automobile dependency.