Waiting for the BRIO: Alameda rapid transit delayed by about three years

After years of talking about the Alameda BRIO, City officials have now said the route will be operational by late 2017 or early 2018, nearly three years after the originally planned completion date. But don’t call it a delay.

“We didn’t delay anything. We were just trying to get things done the best way we could,” said Jay Banasiak, Sun Metro’s Director in an interview last week.

ABC-7 combed through early planning documents for the BRIO obtained through the Metropolitan Planning Organization as well as prior city budgets and found the City has over the years repeatedly changed the completion date of the Alameda rapid transit system.

In 2013, then city Mayor John Cook and other city officials publicly said all four BRIO corridors should be ready by 2017, with Alameda done by 2015. Then in 2014, the city changed Alameda’s completion date to early 2016. And now, Sun Metro officials say Alameda won’t be ready until late 2017 or early 2018.

“I get asked all the time well when it it coming? When is it coming to Alameda,” said City Rep. Emma Acosta who recently asked for an update on the BRIO route.

Sun Metro Director Jay Banasiak in a recent interview, said the City decided to postpone the construction of the Alameda RTS after voters in 2012 approved the $473 million Quality of Life Bond.

“We had the quality of life issues that came along that weren’t there in 2010 when we were talking about funding Alameda,” said Banasiak. According to the City, it extended construction for Alameda after determining funding Alameda would not be a good fit for the City’s debt model, which is a complex analysis of how much debt taxpayers are paying at once.

Alameda BRIO, unlike the other three RTS routes which are funded mostly by Federal grant money, is slated to be paid for by local tax-payer funded debt, called certificates of obligation (COs). The COs for the Alamada BRIO were approved in 2011 by City Council. Initially, the City estimated the Alameda BRIO would cost about $35.5 million but city documents show the price has increased to $38.8 million.

Routes along Alameda are among the most used by Sun Metro riders. Thousands of people in the Lower Valley every day rely on the system to travel to work or school.

“It’s not fast but it’s here on time and that’s what I like about it,” said Maria Jimenez, a Sun Metro rider who travels from her home in the Lower Valley to the University of Texas at El Paso several days a week. Her commute takes nearly an hour, she said. If the Alameda BRIO was operational now, as city officials originally envisioned, Jimenez’s travel time could be cut almost in half.

Alameda BRIO is scheduled to run about 15 miles from deep in the Lower Valley near Speaking Rock through Five Points in Central and Downtown El Paso. Initially the city said it’d cost $35.5 million. Now that it’s coming three years late, City documents show the price tag has increased to $38.8 million.

The funding model wasn’t the only reason for the new completion date. Banasiak said the City struggled to acquire the rights of way from several business owners along the Alameda corridor which is lined by several small businesses including dozens of used car lots. “There were many situations when businesses did not want the BRIO stations in front of their business and we had to change that and change the whole plan,” said City Rep. Emma Acosta, who recently asked for an update on the Alameda BRIO.

Banasiak said the rights of way issues took almost two years to settle, a step required before the City started the design phase for the project.

“It is worth it,” said Jimenez after learning of the Alameda BRIO delays. The alameda BRIO will run almost ten years after the city began planning for it. If it stays on its new schedule.