By Jonathan Babalola, Noblesville Daily Times
jbabalola@noblesvilledailytimes.com
As Noblesville and the rest of Hamilton County gauge possible alternative mass transit options, the costs associated with building the future routes might be tough for taxpayers to embrace.
County Commissioner Christine Altman and Jeff Huffman, president and chief executive officer of Janus Developmental Services Inc., were the featured speakers at the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday at Purgatory Golf Club.
Altman, who also serves as president of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, said the county has to figure out a way to resolve the current congestion problems that plague the region's traffic flow.
Altman discussed various future transportation alternatives including elevated guideways for monorail travel, a light rail system and a bus/rapid transit system.
She said the guideway system would be the most expensive to construct, but the most cost-effective to sustain. On the other end of the spectrum, the bus/rapid transit system would be the most expensive to maintain due to the amount of employees needed to run that type of operation.
When asked about the potential costs for each transit alternative, Altman said past estimates totaled $50 million per mile for elevated guideways, $40 million per mile for a light rail system and $30-$35 million per mile for a bus/rapid transit system.
Altman acknowledged that though it sounds like an expensive proposition, it is vital for the ever-growing community to make the transition.
"We have to decide if we want roads or do we want roads and the alternatives," Altman said. "If we continue to build up roads, I'm concerned our community will look like (Los Angeles) long-term where we continue to use our residential streets as commuter streets and we won't have any alternatives for our children and are tied to our automobiles."
Altman - who said the panel studied transportation models in St. Louis, Houston and Canada - said a decision will be made by the fall regarding possible routes, technology and costs.
"Then we'll go to the communities for support because it's like the new (Lucas Oil) stadium (in downtown Indianapolis), where we have to find out if people will commit to it financially, because we're not going anywhere on this without money," Altman said.
Huffman talked about the growth of Janus' bus service, especially its fledgling regional program - which has now turned into the Hamilton County Express Public Transit.
What started as a pilot program which served about 2,200 riders in 2006 has turned into a full-fledged operation as Huffman said more than 5,400 riders have already taken the bus through the first quarter of this year. Huffman also raved the "little bus company that could," will be adding three buses to its fleet by the end of next month.
Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear said the area is very fortunate to have the Hamilton County Express system running in the area. The mayor also mentioned that though the costs of the future transit systems are high, the notion that the county's future of mass transportation is being discussed is a positive step.
"The biggest thing is that we're talking about it," Ditslear said. "Looking back, if we had been talking about it maybe 20 years ago, we could have something going now."