The Ohio State campus will be connected to downtown Columbus by streetcar in the first phase of construction, if the Downtown Streetcar Project is approved.
Previous versions of the streetcar plan were under development by Mayor Michael B. Coleman and a 42-member working group included a 3.6 mile line to the OSU campus as an optional addition to the main line. The primary line will run 2.9 miles along High Street from Mound Street downtown to Buttles Avenue in the Short North. The primary line has also run south to Frankfort Avenue in German Village in previous revisions.
According to information from the Downtown Streetcar Project Working Group, the additional OSU line was estimated to cost from $96.3 to $115.5 million to build and up to $5 million a year to operate.
The main line was estimated to cost $63.9 to $76.6 million to build, and up to $4.3 million per year to operate.
Coleman announced the plan had been revised to include the OSU campus during the first phase of construction.
At an invitation-only meeting with Columbus area bloggers Oct. 6, the mayor discussed changes to the streetcar plan in response to a question about why OSU was being left out of the phase-one plan by Walker Evans, a blogger and founder of the Columbus Underground Web site.
He also said proposed lines to German Village and the Brewery District would be held for a later phase of the project because of the reconstruction planned for the US-70/71 split south of downtown in 2010.
Michael Brown, Mayor Coleman's press secretary, confirmed the mayor's statement and said "the mayor wants to see the line extended all the way to OSU's campus."
Evans said the mayor did not specify how far the first-phase plan will go, calling the plan "very preliminary." He said the planning process is still focused on financing the project. The mayor said in his 2006 State of the City address it was important to avoid raising taxes to pay for the streetcar project.
In maps the Downtown Streetcar Project Working Group has made public prior to this revision, the proposed OSU line runs to 11th Avenue.
The Oct. 6 event was organized by Jerid Kurtz of the Buckeye State Blog as an opportunity for Columbus area bloggers to meet with Coleman and Democratic candidates for Columbus City Council, including Michael Mentel, Hearcel Craig, Charleta Taveres and Andrew Ginther.
Evans has speculated on his blog, The Walker Evans Effect, why the first phase of the streetcar plan only went north of downtown as far as Buttles Avenue. He was pleased to hear the mayor say this part of the plan had been changed.
"I don't think people are wanting a streetcar that students will have to take a bus to," he said.
Michael Paull can be reached at paull.15@osu.edu.
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