(rshsdepot) Grand Canyon News

["Jim Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

From the Altamont Press Newsline...

Grand Canyon News

The environmental assessment for a new transit system at Grand Canyon
National Park may be on its way out of the federal Office of Management and
Budget.

GCNP superintendent Joe Alston told members of the Grand Canyon Chamber of
Commerce Wednesday that the process may be moving ahead after the
publication of a New York Times article on the issue.

In the Times story, reporter Blaine Harden describes the park's situation
with a train station "that has neither tracks nor trains. The station, part
of a $16.6 million Canyon View Information Plaza Orientation/Transit Center,
is the last stop on a light-rail transit system that does not exist and is
not being built."

The Times article goes on to describe overcrowding issues and features the
differences between Democrats who embraced light rail and Republicans who
stalled it. "After the New York Times story, they're doing some damage
control," said Alston, who added that he did not agree with the way the
Times story portrayed the situation. "They said it would be out of OMB
within 10 days."

The Grand Canyon transit plan has been in OMB since July. Alston said a
light rail represents the only system that could handle the numbers of
people who come to Grand Canyon. Those numbers can reach 25,000-30,000 per
days during peak periods. "Those types of numbers make it tough to make a
bus system work," Alston said. "All of the alternatives that we will look at
will have an alternative bus system to them." -Marc Pearsall


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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