Champaign — Trolley Temporarily Derailed

Rail Transit Online, May 2004

Widespread dissatisfaction with the proposed $178-million fixed guideway transit system linking downtown Champaign with Urbana and the University of Illinois convinced the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District board on Mar. 31 to delay making a decision on whether to seek federal funding for continued engineering and design studies.  “We've gotten some encouragement from citizens.” MTD board Chairman H. George Friedman told The News-Gazette.  “We've gotten some discouragement from citizens.  It was appropriate to go to the community and say `this is the situation we are facing.’  We have to be thinking ahead to something more than buses.  But I don't think the exact form needs to be decided right now, or the exact costs.”  Other board members blamed public opposition on misinformation, contending that the community has to be better educated with more facts.  The Urbana City Council voted in favor of further study while lawmakers in adjacent Champaign opposed the plan (see RTOL, Mar. & Apr. 2004).  Although streetcars appear to be the preferred mode, guided buses and bus rapid transit would also be considered as the technology of choice.  MTD General Manager Bill Volk outlined several factors for the MTD board’s decision.  “We frankly are struggling with the weight of the project,” he told The News-Gazette.  “Taking stock of where we are is good for the board and for us.”  Volk also noted that the FTA is changing its criteria for smaller fixed guideway schemes.  “This effectively means starting over with new individuals with little or no understanding of the project,” he said.