Officials from the City of Norman were working on an application for federal stimulus money that would have been used to build a commuter rail system connecting Norman to Oklahoma City. But on Thursday, Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said the city would not make the application deadline.
We understand city officials may have felt Norman wasn’t ready to apply for a grant like this, but we are frustrated a commuter rail system will not begin to be constructed.
A system would have been extremely convenient to Norman residents and OU students, and it would have brought many benefits to Norman and Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City has many attractions and events students attend or would like to attend, and a commuter railway would have made the trip from Norman easier, especially for students who either don’t have a car or are trying to save money on gas.
Many students regularly go to Bricktown to eat, attend sporting events, take in concerts or go out for a few drinks, too.
Imagine how much easier going out to a Bricktown bar for a few drinks would have been if a commuter rail service existed between Oklahoma City and Norman. Students wouldn’t have to worry about finding a designated driver if they knew they could just hop on a train to get back to Norman after a night of partying downtown.
Students are also often are forced to ask their friends for a ride to the airport. A commuter railway would have alleviated this need as well.
These are just a couple of examples why students would have benefitted from the service. But students are not the only ones who would have benefitted.
Building and maintaining the railway would create jobs, many of which may have gone to Norman or Oklahoma City residents.
And a railway would attract more visitors to both cities, which would bring in additional people to eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores.
We realize it may not have been possible to apply for this grant at this time, but it is a shame. And we heartily encourage Norman officials to keep working so future grants that would go toward building a commuter rail service may be within reach.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
gree3410 2 years, 8 months ago
Would this link Norman with Will Rogers World Airport? As an OU student from Chicago, I do not like the fact that there is no quick, convenient, and affordable method of transportation for students to get to Will Rogers World Airport. OU is one of the only universities in the nation who's public bus does not provide direct access to the nearest major airport. It would be nice if the commuter rail would link Will Rogers World Airport with Norman
acsooner 2 years, 8 months ago
@kdbp123 & jjanowiak The system described is a COMMUTER rail, not light rail system. There is a difference.
"Most commuter trains are built to rail standards, differing from light rail or rapid transit systems by: being larger; providing more seating and less standing room, for the longer distances involved having (in most cases) a lower frequency of service; having scheduled services (i.e. trains run at specific times rather than at specific intervals); serving lower-density areas, typically by connecting suburbs to the city centre; sharing track or right-of-way with intercity or freight trains." Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter...
This type of system is ideal for OKC-metro for most of the reasons listed above. And as a commenter above stated, connecting Norman (and Edmond) to Will Rogers Airport would be very helpful.
Hey Oklahomans! Wanna know why we're never EVER getting any kind of passenger rail system? Guess who the director of our Department of Transportation is? Why it's none other than Gary Ridley, former executive director of the Oklahoma Asphalt Paving Association. Do you think guy cares about anything that doesn't touch a roadway?
Lamborghini 2 years, 8 months ago
I do not believe the Norman City Officials are very motivated because each of them own a car and are able to drive to work each day. The ONLY way I ever see the mentality changing in this state is for gas to hit at least $10/gallon!
kdbp1213 2 years, 8 months ago
The OKC-metro area (Norman, Edmond, OKC, Del City, MWC, Bethany, Moore, Noble, Mustang, Yukon, The Village, Nichols Hills, etc.) is incondusive to a light rail system. This area is too spread out; too big. There's too few folks to economically sustain a light rail system because a large majority of citizens rely on automobiles for transportation which takes us back to being too spread out. If we had a dense population of folks in a smaller area (NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, etc.), a light rail system might be a more popluar mode of transportation.
Human nature, also, would prevent this area from benefiting from a light rail system. We like to be on our schedule rather than public transporation's schedule. We wanna come & go as we please. Again, this a majority of folks. The small minority of folks who would use the light rail just wouldn't cut economically cut it.
JJanowiak 2 years, 8 months ago
kdbp is exactly right. While everybody and their mom wants some stimulus money for a light rail, the OKC metro is too small and the state too sparsely populated to warrant a big investment in intrastate rail infrastructure. Not that many students go to Bricktown and not that many OKC residents want to come to Norman to eat or shop when there are basically identical spots in OKC. And just because building a bridge to nowhere would create some temporary jobs doesn't mean it's worth it.