Could light rail line boost city, arsenal?

Park-and-ride facility seen as precursor to public transit system

Doug Gooch says he always gets the same reaction when he talks about plans for a light train running from Bridge Street and Cummings Research Park onto Redstone Arsenal: "It makes too much sense, it'll never happen."

Gooch is an experienced developer, not only a dreamer. He thinks the time is right for a light rail line to deal with the rapid, BRAC-related growth at the arsenal and in Huntsville, and serve as a catalyst for developing a true communitywide public transportation system over a couple of decades.

He is president and CEO of River Country Development, and has gathered a team of light-rail allies, including regional engineering, real estate, construction and financial services companies, and local architect and planner John Goodrum.

Their initial vision is for a park-and-ride facility on the west side of Huntsville near Huntsville International Airport and Madison, connected by rail to a two-story station at Bridge Street Town Centre, where there is already a federally funded multimodal transportation hub.

From there, some people could take "loop" buses to jobs in Cummings Research Park, Gooch said. Others would go to the second-story platform at the Bridge Street station and clear a checkpoint for a secure train elevated across Interstate 565 to a station or stations across the arsenal, which could also be served by a bus system. Hopefully, there could also be service to the secured Martin Road station in the south, where another park-and-ride lot would be located.

The long-discussed "Patriot Parkway" idea of a southern bypass roadway across Redstone Arsenal was recently rejected by the Army, primarily because of work-force security concerns.

Gooch said that with a kind of Patriot Railway, thousands of arsenal employees would ride the secure train to and from their jobs and cars, easing the growing vehicle congestion at Redstone's gates every morning and evening without compromising security.

"What would be missing is the cars," he said. "And that's the whole idea."

Right time

Basically, their proposal starts with the establishment of a Light Rail Authority this year under state and federal rules, and including representatives from Redstone Arsenal, the cities of Huntsville and Madison, Madison County, and more.

Gooch said he hopes to see the first-phase, secure rail onto the arsenal operating in 2012. It would be a catalyst for additional phases of rail routes and stations, including service to Huntsville International Airport, then the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the Von Braun Civic Center and, ultimately, to Interstate 65 and Decatur/Athens.

"This is not a dream," Goodrum said.

Goodrum, who became involved about a year ago, brings a wealth of local experience to the table as former president and chairman of Goodrum Knowles, for more than 20 years. The architectural and engineering firm's list of "notable projects" includes the Sparkman Center and Von Braun Complex Phase I and II buildings on the arsenal, as well as the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and many other buildings in Huntsville.

He, too, believes the time is right for rail: Consider the many jobs and regional growth expected with the Army's Base Realignment and Closing move of more than 4,600 positions to the arsenal; the rejection of the Patriot Parkway plan; the need for "green" ways to get tens of thousands of employees on and off the arsenal every morning and evening; the success of light-rail transit in cities such as Charlotte, N.C., where voters even supported a transit tax; the Obama administration's support for public and rail transportation; and more.

"We're dead serious about it," Goodrum said. "And it's doable."

'Intriguing' idea

"It is very intriguing," said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. "It all comes down to money."

He said the federal funding that usually drives these kinds of projects isn't there in the current economy, but acknowledged the Obama administration's interest in rail. The president has released a strategic plan for high-speed rail nationwide that calls for more than $8 billion in funding.

Battle pointed out that Redstone Arsenal's employees are coming here from 13 counties, and that local and area rail or other public transport would be welcome.

"We need to go to a regional transportation mode," he said, adding that a park-and-ride concept to ease arsenal gate traffic seems a good one.

"It makes a lot of sense," Battle said. "It's one that we need to look at, we need to study. ... If it becomes affordable, then it makes a lot of sense."

Madison Mayor Paul Finley said all those workers driving in from those 13 counties converge in two general locations: Redstone Arsenal and Cummings Research Park. A park-and-ride system, whether using rail or other transport, makes sense.

"This type of idea addresses the choke points that we already see and are going to get worse," Finley said.

He said the region will continue to grow, that solutions to transportation problems must be found, and will take a long time to implement. So he's glad Gooch and others are looking at options now.

"We all recognize that projects of this magnitude are 10, 12 or 15 years out," Finley said.

"We are open to any great ideas," said Garrison commander Col. Robert Pastorelli, the "mayor" of Redstone Arsenal.

More than 30,000 vehicles roll in and out of the arsenal every day, and road and gate improvements are being sought to address increases spurred by the BRAC moves, he said. But it's a long-term issue.

"More growth for the arsenal is a great possibility," Pastorelli said, referring both to Army and federal needs and future BRAC decisions. "To meet that challenge we have to look at alternative transportation."

Whatever transportation ideas are considered, he said, they must be in the area's best interests, not only the arsenal's.

"This would have to be in partnership with the community to make it a reality," Pastorelli said.

Facing problems

Gooch earned a design degree from the University of Kansas in 1979 and then worked for architectural, construction and other firms on projects in Florida before returning to his family's deep Huntsville roots in 1995.

He said his grandfather, Wheeler Schrimsher, and other family members were involved in local construction, including work on Marshall Space Flight Center and, back in 1941, railroads used to help establish Redstone Arsenal.

"That same rail bed is part of what we're talking about utilizing for this light rail," Gooch said. "So history repeats itself."

He said key to the success of any transportation project - more important, perhaps, than money - is solving right-of-way issues. Phase I of the rail proposal involves only the City of Huntsville and the federal government, so he hopes that would smooth negotiations.

The money is important, of course. Gooch figures the Huntsvillewide system he and Goodrum propose could be completed for about $500 million. He said that's much less than would have been needed for the full southern bypass highway plan, and it will better serve the whole community.

To pay for the project, he would hope any unused Patriot Parkway funding could be diverted, that federal money from the Obama administration's rail initiatives would be available, and that the Light Rail Authority could issue bonds and begin a public-private partnership with investors interested in developing office space, shops and restaurants along with the train stations, a model successful in other cities.

Gooch and Goodrum also said they would also like to involve NASA and other researchers to consider solar as an alternative energy source for the system, where possible.

So, they want to build a state-of-the-art rail system, incorporating solar power, elevated across I-565 and running near the shadow of the Space Center's Saturn V rocket, serving Redstone Arsenal, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the second-largest research park in the United States?

We can, Goodrum said: "Show the world Huntsville, the high-tech city."

Gooch thinks lawmakers and leaders must start soon to take advantage of the current political, ecological and transportation climate.

"It's hard to get a freight train rolling," he said, "but it's even harder to stop once it's moving."

He likens the light-rail system to the way people talked about Interstate 565 in the years before it was built. They didn't think that would ever get done, either.

"Now look at the benefits that's providing the community," Gooch said.