North Corridor Construction Expected To Start in July

In four months, construction is scheduled to begin on the North Corridor, one of four transit lines that is part of a transit system approved by voters in November 2003.

The North Corridor is one of four corridors that will make up 21 miles of fixed-guideway bus rapid transit. The other corridors are Southeast, East End and Uptown. All of this will be converted to Light Rail Transit when enough riders make it cost-effective to change to light rail.

But before any of this can occur, a few things have to happen. First, a record of decision has to be made by the federal government before any construction begins or before we receive funding. That happened last month for the North Corridor.

A record of decision is the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) stamp of approval, certifying that METRO has successfully completed the environmental process.  

We completed the environmental process in record timing. No other transit agency has completed that process in a year.

Then, METRO needs the property to build the corridors. At our last board meeting on Feb. 22, the board authorized our staff to start negotiating offers for full acquisitions.

You may have seen TV news reports of a half dozen or so Northside merchants and homeowners, protesting METRO's plans. What you probably did not see: More than 30 Northside community leaders showed up a news conference the same day along the North Line route, supporting METRO's plans. But that news conference didn't get much press coverage.

Protesters were concerned about how much property might be acquired. The environmental impact study had to list all potential properties. But so far, current plans involve much less: 33 whole properties, 44 partial properties of 10 feet or less, and 27 "corner clips" which could be one to two feet - very small portions - of property.

Property owners whose property will be acquired have at least 90 days' notice and receive compensation for their property and relocation expenses. The property is assessed by independent appraisers. METRO cannot acquire property and relocate owners without compensation. Property owners are free to accept METRO's offer or make a counteroffer and then negotiate with METRO.

Another milestone achieved in February: The Bush administrative budget for fiscal year 2008 included two of METRO Solutions' rapid transit projects - the North and Southeast corridors. 

Frank Wilson, our CEO and president, called these milestones "like hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning in the seventh game of the World Series."