According to the Hampton Roads blog (click here), support for the light rail system in Virginia Beach is eroding:

“Cost overruns and delays to build Norfolk’s light-rail system are threatening this city’s proposed project, giving ammunition to skeptics, putting proponents on the defensive and eroding support from those in the middle.”

“If there was a vote today, it wouldn’t pass,” Virginia Beach Vice Mayor Louis Jones said. He said the council’s support for light rail is “softening.”

“Norfolk’s troubles come at a critical time in the Beach’s light-rail aspirations. The city is working to close a $40 million deal for a railroad right of way identified for light rail, though state and federal money has yet to come through. Beach leaders have bought land for a train station at Town Center. And much of the city’s future growth planning revolves around extending Norfolk’s line from Newtown Road to the Oceanfront.

A light-rail feasibility study is under way. The City Council has not voted on the project.”

…”Moss said that given Norfolk’s experience, it will be hard to trust cost estimates that will come from the HRT study that is under way.

The projected price of the Norfolk line has soared from $232 million to about $340 million, a 47 percent increase that angry officials said they weren’t told about.

“Whenever they give you a number, what faith will you have in that number?” Moss said. “Very little, I think.”

A state panel has finally selected a preferred option on replacing the floating 520 bridge. The panel voted 10 to 2 in favor of replacing the existing bridge from Interstate 5 to Medina with a new six-lane bridge, which would include one HOV lane in each direction. It would feature a new Montlake interchange, similar to the current interchange, with a new bascule bridge across the cut. It also would add some improvement to transit connections, as well as a reversible HOV lane connecting to Interstate 5. The cost will be about $4.6 billion but it will not increase ...

Light rail plans take a hit in Phoenix Crosscut The contractors, sub-contractors, and elected officials hereabouts who truly love Sound Transit light rail will be disappointed to learn that ... and more »

CH2M Hill may get $33M for East Link engineering Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce (subscription), WA By JOURNAL STAFF The Sound Transit board plans to vote Thursday on a $33 million contract amendment for CH2M Hill to do preliminary engineering and prepare the final environmental impact statement for East Link, the 18-mile light-rail extension between ...

Riders of Washington, DC’s Metrobus system are much more likely to be low-income minorities than users of the Metrorail system, according to a 2007 survey. The median income for Metrorail riders is $102,100, while the median income for bus riders is only two-thirds as much at $69,600; more than half of bus riders are minorities [...]

Add Austin’s Capital Metro to the list of transit agencies that have gotten themselves into serious financial trouble because they insisted on building an expensive rail transit line. After blowing $300 million on a commuter-rail line and other questionable improvements, Capital Metro is heavily in debt and lacks the resources to fund bus and other [...]

State Auditor Sonntag plays hardball over "dumb" cut to ... Sound Politics, WA CROSSCUT -- Gregoire on the spot over performance audits -- The Legislature's proposed gutting of the performance-audit program is inexcusable ... they have uncovered practices by WSDOT, the Port of Seattle, Sound Transit, and other agencies which ...

How Much Lying Do You Allow For? Sound Politics, WA Both the Times and PI reporting (before they turned into a website) is/was characterized widely by rail proponents as blatantly against light rail and Sound Transit. 2. Can the mayor legally bind property owners to foot the bill for "cost over runs" ...

Street-level light rail in Bellevue is front-runner in study Seattle Times, United States A street-level light-rail route across downtown Bellevue will be the front-runner in Sound Transit's environmental studies for the $2.7 billion East Link project, the agency's governing board decided today. By Mike Lindblom A street-level light-rail ...