A possible intercity transit hub at the future NBA arena site could connect Norman and Edmond residents with downtown Oklahoma City, but the plans are contingent on another upcoming election.
OKC residents voted in December to approve a one-cent sales tax to fund construction of the new arena, but local voters could be asked to go back to the ballot booth next year to approve another sales tax for creating a regional transit network that would include a combination of commuter rail and rapid bus routes.
“It is not unrealistic to think the election could happen in the first half of 2025,” said Assistant City Manager Jason Ferbrache, director of public transportation for the city's EMBARK and interim executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma. But the election date would be a decision of the RTA board, with votes on whether or not to fund the rail system being tallied from all three RTA member cities.
Here's what else we know.
Where will the new transit hub be?
A portion of the new arena site — about 60,000 square feet — is reserved for the potential transit hub, accessible from E.K. Gaylord Boulevard and "as close to the Santa Fe Train Station as reasonably possible," according to the development agreement.
What will the new transit hub look like?
Ferbrache said he envisions the hub and the larger transit system could ideally be modeled after the TEXRail commuter rail line and its entertainment-oriented Main Station in Grapevine, Texas, which brought broader economic development like a hotel and an eatery centered around the transit station.
The EMBARK director also described the proposed transit hub as a critical and strategic play for ensuring the city has adequate transportation infrastructure in the future. Transit officials are further exploring how to expand the existing Amtrak service and connect the new NW OKC Bus Rapid Transit line with the planned MAPS 4 BRT lines for the northeast OKC and south OKC corridors.
“It just really sets us up, in my mind, for giving residents of the city and the region all kinds of choices about how they get to games, how they get to concerts and events, and how we get to downtown,” Ferbrache said.
New OKC Thunder arena:What's in the plan?
How could the new transit system connect OKC's suburbs?
RTA is currently in the process of concept-level planning and engineering for the commuter rail system that would connect as far north as the Covell community in Edmond all the way to the State Highway 9 area in far south Norman.
“Think about the ability to live on the north or south side of Oklahoma City or Edmond and Norman, basically go to a train platform along the corridor, take the train to the arena for a game or for an event, and it basically be just seamless transportation from the train ride right to the arena," Ferbrache said.
When will residents vote on the transit system?
A firm date for the election has not yet been proposed, although RTA board members believe it most likely will be held in early 2025.
"To construct this project we expect a lot of federal funds to go into it, but you cannot access those federal funds without some type of local funding commitment to go along with it," Ferbrache said. "That’s why that potential election in 2025, to ask the voters if we want commuter rail in our region and our city, is going to be so important.”
What about arena parking in the meantime?
As the new arena construction ramps up, residents can expect the current Cox Convention Center to be demolished in early 2025 after Prairie Surf Studios vacates the facility.
But that also means 900 parking spaces underneath the former convention center will have to go. The city is currently developing an interim parking plan to accommodate Thunder games and other events at the neighboring Paycom Center. Ferbrache said to expect that plan to be presented before this summer's end.
In the long term, the arena project also includes the construction of a new parking garage on the arena site with at least 650 spaces.
"I would expect, as the project progresses, we, the city, are going to probably study the sizing of that garage in a little bit more detail, so it could be larger, but 650 spaces is the minimum," Ferbrache said.
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