Friday, July 16, 2010
Transportation Tunica Transit
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 9:39 AM
Planners for the Mississippi Department of Transportation are exploring whether a high speed bus from Tunica to Downtown Memphis is feasible.
Potential users are tourists traveling from downtown Memphis to Tunica, as well as people who fly in or out of Memphis International, and Tunica casino workers.
Houghton also cited DeSoto County's rapid population growth. From 1990 to 2010, the county gained 100,000 residents.
Planners considered light rail, commuter rail, and high speed bus service but, with signal prioritization, the buses are similar to trains but at a fraction of the cost.
Three routes from Memphis to Tunica are currently being explored: U.S. 51 to I-69; I-69; and Airways to I-69.
The only I-69 option would have a trip time of 73 minutes and would cost about $24.7 million in capital costs. Operating expenses would be $4.1 million.
Airways to I-69 would take 79 minutes — in this option, planners included a proposed MATA lightrail from Airways to downtown — and would cost $22 million in capital and $$4.1 million in operating expenses.
The U.S. 51 route would cost $28.8 million in capital costs and only serve about 40 more riders per day.
One snag is that no one has identified where funding for this project would come from. An initial $70 million was made eligible for a Mississippi I-69 project in the 2005 transportation bill, and the project was designated under the federal Small Starts program.
Under Small Starts, a local project sponsor can request a maximum of up to $75 million, but the sponsor has to provide (typically) a 50 percent match and cover all operating costs.
There was talk that Mississippi and Tennessee could potentially split the cost of the match.
For more information, go here.
Comments (23)
Showing 1-23 of 23
Yes, let's provide faster ways for people to leave Memphis. And let's spend a lot of money doing it. The more, the better. Awesome idea!
Oh, I've got a good idea. Let's spend some money lobbying the Arkansas government so West Memphis can get a casino.
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jeff: they've got one already. and a school bus can make it from dtown to tunica county in about 40 minutes now. sounds like MDOT has time on its hands.
Why would we in Tennesse want to split the cost of this with MIssissippi? Let them pay for all of it if they want it. I see no benefit to Memphis for this (I'm just trying to think non-regionally, like a Desoto Countian).
Excellent points, John. Spend millions of dollars on a bus route (I keep wondering what the money will actually go to, as last time I checked, the roads were already there) that they will call high speed that actually goes slower than a school bus, to ship tourists in mass out of downtown so they can spend their money in Mississippi.
Where do I sign up for a piece of that action? I got some route service services to offer that look damn good on paper.
I have to say when I read that the "high-speed" bus route would take 79 minutes to get from Tunica to Memphis, I wondered what definition of high-speed they are using. Perhaps that's factoring in stops at all the casinos?
The concept is known as "bus rapid transit," and has been implemented all over the world. http://wapedia.mobi/en/Bus_rapid_transit It involves either building dedicated "transitways" (like they did in my old hometown--BV's former stomping ground--Pittsburgh), or making alterations to existing routes to speed bus service (i.e., dedicated lanes, traffic signal synchronization, etc.)
We can make all the fun of this we want to, since it involves Mississippi (something I admit to being guilty of doing), but the fact remains, when Mississippi is ahead of us when it comes to innovative transportation planning, we're the ones we should be laughing at.
We're still fumbling and bumbling about all manner of transportation planning that's been accepted and implemented, for years, literally all over the world (e.g., bicycle accommodation, light rail, car-pooling incentives, and yes, even bus rapid transit). At least Mississippi, in this instance, seems to be ready, willing and able to do something progressive in an area that we're still stepping on our dicks (a phrase Tommy V might use) about.
Memphis can't even get its shit together enough to implement, city-wide, the technology that's existed for 30 years in the rest of the civilized world--traffic signal synchronization. There is absolutely no reason why traffic lights can't be synchronized on ALL of the major arteries of this city (which they're still not). The effects of this failure range from increased wear and tear on vehicles (and on roadways) to increased air pollution (it's no accident we've been on EPA'S "non-attainment" list), increased stress levels among drivers (result: more road rage) and decreased efficiency of our entire vehicular transportation system. Most of the major (and many of the minor) cities in this country have had synchronized traffic lights since at least the 70's, but not Memphis. To paraphrase the old wine commercial: we will institute no progress until long after its time.
Of course, the traffic light situation is not surprising given who's been in charge of the city's engineering department for nearly that long--you know, the guy who f'd up the application for stimulus money to put in bike lanes.
Our lights are sychronized. The master control is a keyboard in the old Elsinore Brewery.
But in this instance, it isn't Mississippi's bus, it's Memphis' bus. Thus the source of confusion.
As for traffic light sychronization, it will never work. See, if you open a new megastore business on Poplar or Germantown or whatever and you want to increase your business, you pay the city to install a signal at your main entrance and then you pay extra so that the light changes if even one of your customers pulls up to the light on their way out, thus stopping six lanes of traffic and dozens of cars so one car can make a left turn without having to wait. Lowes and Wal Mart pay good bribe money for that level of service, and traffic light sychronization would eliminate that profit stream for our noble and selfless municipal leaders.
Jeff: I may have misunderstood. The article said it was the MS DOT that was exploring this possibility. How does that make it "Memphis' bus?" Memphis might benefit (if you consider being able to get to Tunica a benefit), but it's still MS's idea (and money).
I don't understand why the article says folks who fly in and out of Memphis' airport might benefit from this capability. Is Tunica's airport actually going to offer commercial service in competition with Memphis'? Even if it does, will it be able to give the Memphis airport a run for its money (or a saving for fliers)?
Have they not thought of having the casinos pay for it? In my opinion they are the only people benefiting from this. Not saying I wouldn't use this service if it was available. I go to Harrah's all the time and this would be awesome. Just an idea...
Is there not a private company still offering bus transit to Tunica from several Memphis locations?
Typical journalism: Don't let facts get in the way of the story.
There's no difference between Highway 51 and 61. Right.
Kids, Kids - - the railroad goes right to the Desoto/Tunica county line just north of Harrah's.
What's wrong with scheduling a few fast trains back and forth?
Why not have some casinos in Memphis? Think of the tax revenue.No need for this expence. Times are tough. Let's cash in on what MS. has been doing all along. All the reasons casinos in Memphis were voted down in the first place were lies funded by the MS. casinos. Hey lets wake up.
Memphis has been bleeding cash for years.This will only open the wound more. If MS.wants are money let them come and get it. They have been doing a great job so far. Let's not help them.
You are correct Marty. My misread. It just sounded so much like something Memphis would do.
Ideas like this are spawned from others leading by example. Memphis already holds the land-speed record for transportation from the inner city to 201 Poplar.
I would imagine Janice Fullilove will be a paid consultant on this project? Nobody can avoid obstacles and get to the casinos faster than her.
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