Transit Update with MORPC

Tim Fulton 00:00Welcome to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, we're diving into the transit transformations shaping our city's future. Columbus Underground co-founder and editor Walker Evans sat down with Parag Agrawal, the chief mobility and infrastructure officer and senior director of programming at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. With a rich background in planning, land use, and transportation, Parag returned to Columbus to help shape the future of our region. They discussed transformative projects like the push for intercity rail and the LinkUS initiative on the ballot this fall, that includes bus rapid transit lines, enhanced COTA services, and expanded sidewalks and bike trails. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. This episode of the Confluence Cast is sponsored by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. MORPC is central Ohio's voice as a regional council, with nearly 90 local governments and community partners. They provide nonpartisan data analysis, community resources, and long-range planning. Together, they drive the future prosperity and sustainability of the central Ohio region. Enjoy the interview.

Walker Evans 01:39So, sitting down here today with Parag Agrawal, the chief mobility and infrastructure officer and senior director of programming at MORPC. Great to meet you.

Parag Agrawal 01:48Great talking to you. Thanks for coming in.

Walker Evans 01:50Yeah, thanks for having me. So you've been at MORPC for how long now?

Parag Agrawal 01:55I have been at MORPC for less than a year, about nine months.

Walker Evans 01:58Nice. So I guess, for starters, then, let's talk a little bit about your background and what you've been accomplishing so far. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Parag Agrawal 02:06Sure. So as I just mentioned, I have been with MORPC for just less than a year now. I moved here from central Florida, where I basically managed an MPO, a metropolitan planning organization, in central Florida. I managed the MPO in Polk County, which is sort of the fastest-growing region in the country. Population is approximately a million people, which is expected to go up to around 1.5 million in the next 10 years.

Walker Evans 02:06Wow. Yeah, that's fast.

Parag Agrawal 02:06Yeah. Before that, I was the planning director of Prince William County, and also served as the community development director of the city of Milton in Georgia. So I have a background in planning, land use, and transportation. This is not my first time in Columbus, Ohio. I went to the Ohio State University, graduated in 2004, and then worked for the City of Columbus for five years.

Walker Evans 02:58Okay. Well, welcome back.

Parag Agrawal 03:01So when this opportunity came in—there are so many great things happening in central Ohio. My wife is from Dayton, Ohio, so we always kept in touch with central Ohio and all the great things which are happening here. So when this opportunity came in, I thought this is the perfect fit for my professional and also for my personal goals. So glad to be back.

Walker Evans 03:21Nice. And also a very rapidly growing community here as well. Do you think there are things that you were able to take from the projects that you worked on in those other regions that would apply here?

Parag Agrawal 03:32So, definitely. As I mentioned, I have always worked in some sort of fast-growing regions in the country. Central Florida is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. I basically worked on something called SunRail, a commuter train, and we were planning to extend that SunRail from Orlando to the Polk County area in Lakeland. We also worked on Brightline, which is basically the first privately funded train in the country, and we were trying to connect Orlando to Tampa via Polk County. We also always try to work on multimodal transportation networks. So again, our goal is, once we grow bigger, how can we grow better? Any growth area should not be known for traffic congestion, so we have to basically keep up with infrastructure so that we can enhance the quality of life of our residents. So same thing with central Ohio. As you know, central Ohio is one of the fastest-growing regions in the Midwest, and our goal is, how can we work with our member communities, how can we work with our various stakeholders, to make sure that the citizens enjoy a good quality of life in central Ohio? So again, definitely, there is a huge linkage with the work which I have done in my previous jobs and the work which I will be working on in central Ohio.

Walker Evans 04:51Yeah. Well, jumping straight into that intercity rail conversation—you know, our readers always love hearing about updates on the Amtrak application process. It's something that MORPC, I know, has played a huge role in, but it's a very regional, collaborative process. Is that something that you're helping to work on? Is that within the purview of your role here at MORPC?

Parag Agrawal 05:12This is part of my portfolio. So, as you know, central Ohio is one of the fastest and the biggest regions that's not served by intercity rail, and we are trying to work with our communities to change that. So, thankfully, last year, MORPC, central Ohio, and Midwest communities, we all worked together on something called the Corridor ID program. This Corridor ID program is a program of the Federal Railroad Administration that will basically connect the entire region of the Midwest, connecting from Chicago to Fort Wayne to Columbus to Pittsburgh. Just imagine, if you want to go from Columbus to Pittsburgh, you don't have to drive; you can easily take a train if you want to. Everyone basically says, in central Ohio, if we can go to Chicago on a train, that's the best thing which they can think of, right? So again, just imagine how we can connect central Ohio with Chicago and to Pittsburgh through a train connection. On similar lines, we are also working on a project called 3C+D. This project is basically managed by the Ohio Department of Transportation through their ORDC, the Ohio Rail Development Commission. And we are trying to connect the big cities of Ohio—3C, as you know, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, plus Dayton—through a train connection. So again, what I will emphasize: passenger rail is not only for moving people, but it's a big tool for economic development. If we want to grow our Midwest communities, if we want to encourage more economic development, passenger rail and the freight network are a big issue over here. So again, it's not only about moving people, but passenger rail will also encourage economic development in Ohio and throughout the Midwest. And we are hoping that we should be able to catch a train to Chicago by the end of this decade.

Walker Evans 07:15Yeah. I've also heard there's a lot of projections of value in the sort of visitor and entertainment sector as well, being able to head to Cleveland or Cincinnati to catch a baseball game or football.

Parag Agrawal 07:27Exactly, right? You don't have to drive. So same thing—our team also went to see Brightline in Florida a few months back, and there we were saying how the private sector can play a big role in passenger rail. It's not only about Amtrak. So we are basically looking at different models of passenger rail, and what are the different stakeholders that can play a big part in bringing passenger rail to central Ohio. And we saw how Brightline, which is a private stakeholder, is connecting Miami to Orlando and very soon to Tampa. So again, sky's the limit. As long as Ohioans have a big vision of what can happen in their communities, we are here to assist them.

Walker Evans 08:10Nice. On the more local level, I know MORPC also plays a really big role in intracity connectivity. The LinkUS project, I know, has been kind of buzzworthy over the past year or two. You know, as we're headed toward the election in November, I know there's a lot of work between now and then. Can you give us sort of an update on where we stand with LinkUS right now?

Parag Agrawal 08:35So I will say LinkUS is one of the most transformative projects in central Ohio's history. This project, it's not only about transportation or transit, but it's basically an economic development project. It's a project that will create more affordable housing. It's a project that will basically help to sustain our environment. So various stakeholders, that includes MORPC, City of Columbus, Franklin County, and COTA, are working together with our various community partners to enhance the regional network in central Ohio through LinkUS. As we know, it will be on the ballot on November 5. And again, the only thing which I will emphasize: LinkUS is not only about additional COTA buses. As we know, we are talking about five bus rapid transit lines. We are also talking about enhancing the existing COTA service by more than 45%. And the best part is, we are trying to create more sidewalks and bike trails for the residents of central Ohio. So around 27% of the additional revenue that will come in through LinkUS will be invested in creating more sidewalks and bike trails for central Ohio residents, that will connect communities from employment centers, that will connect communities with various amenities like parks. So that is the key. This is basically an entire package which we are working on for the last, let's say, almost eight to 10 years. And, as you always know, it's always for the people to decide. But we are very encouraged by the amount of transformation that will happen in central Ohio.

Walker Evans 10:22Yeah. I think it's really exciting too that that's sort of one planning piece of the overall puzzle. And it's been interesting to see how LinkUS connects with Zone In, with the corridors—you know, they're very much in alignment. GCAC has a public art plan. There is the Rapid 5 project. And so seeing all of these different groups kind of plan around and collaborate, I think, is really interesting and exciting, because, like you said, LinkUS will not just provide better bus service, it will allow for economic development and housing opportunities to happen along Sullivant Avenue and Bethel Road and some of these areas where you don't see as much happening as the Short North or Franklinton.

Parag Agrawal 11:03Exactly. And the best part of these projects is the community participation. Like, City of Columbus, MORPC, COTA, Franklin County have been working very closely with our community partners, because it's always the community who knows the best. So we always go back to the community and say, "Hey, this is what our plan is. How can we make it better?" That is the goal. So again, as I said, LinkUS is not only about transit. LinkUS is about affordable housing. And thanks to the City of Columbus, they have, for the first time, updated their zoning code through the Zone In initiative, for the first time in more than 50 years, that will directly tie into the LinkUS project. So again, different pieces are working together to enhance the quality of life of our central Ohio residents.

Walker Evans 11:56Yeah, it's really exciting. As far as programming goes, what do you think the biggest challenge is when it comes to getting people involved in these issues? I think a lot of people care about them, but they might not necessarily know how to best engage, whether that's in person, online, through events. What are those challenges?

Parag Agrawal 12:14So, as you said, communication. Communication is most important. So I will say—I have two young daughters, seven and 13. Both me and my wife, we both work. We are already too busy in our daily lives trying to chauffeur our kids to different activities, but we still try to get involved in our community. So number one challenge, I will say, is: so many great things happening, but how do you convey the message to the public? It's not only about a COTA bus, it's about how you can transform the community into a much better place. That's, I will say, number one. Number two, I will say, although LinkUS will provide us some great amount of funding, but as we know, there's never enough funding. We are identifying the first five BRT lines. We are basically investing more than $250 million in creating more sidewalks and trails, but still, there's so much more community need that's out there. And we want to further work with our community, not only on those five BRT lines, but we want to see how our suburban communities can take advantage of LinkUS. It's not only about downtown Columbus. This is a project in which our suburban communities can come together and can take advantage of LinkUS. So I will say these are some of the main issues which we are facing—community participation, community engagement. And again, although we will be getting a significant amount of money, there's such a good need, there's such a huge need, that we can do so much more with additional funding.

Walker Evans 14:07Yeah. You mentioned having young kids, and I do as well. And the thing that I think is really interesting about these kind of big-picture planning processes is that you're not necessarily building for the people of today; you're building for the people of tomorrow and looking at trends. You know, vehicle ownership may decline in the coming decades as people move more toward services, whether they are an Uber driver or an autonomous vehicle. You know, if people gravitate more toward walkable communities, again as we used to have 100 years ago—do you think that's something that you have to keep in mind when sort of laying the groundwork for this, is how things are going to change 20, 30, 40 years from now?

Parag Agrawal 14:48So I will say, my background is in architecture. I'm an architect, basically a designer. So one thing which we always look for—communities are looking for more walkable neighborhoods. I do not have anything against single-family homes; I also live in a single-family subdivision. But folks are looking for more options—more housing options, more neighborhood options. And I will say walkable neighborhoods also help in economic development. So nowadays, employers want to relocate to communities that offer a multimodal transportation system, that offer walkable neighborhoods. So it's not only about what you and me want; it's more about what our employers are looking for. The idea of the suburban business parks—people are looking for some sort of walkable communities in which the employees can go out for lunch in the afternoon, right? They can walk and have their lunch in the afternoon. So that's the key right now. And I'm very happy to say that central Ohio is taking a big leap over there. If you look at many communities in Dublin, like Bridge Park, there are many communities which are looking to create more walkable neighborhoods. The Zone In initiative, which you talked about with City of Columbus, will go a long way in creating our corridors and transforming our corridors into walkable neighborhoods. Again, if you are living along a LinkUS line, along those corridors, hopefully you will not have to buy a car. Or if you want to buy a car, you will only have one car in the household; you will not have those two or three cars in the household. So I will say LinkUS, the Zone In initiative, City of Columbus, will go a long way in creating walkable neighborhoods and creating more housing and more neighborhood options for our communities.

Walker Evans 17:02Cool. Well, if there's any way that people want to get more involved, find out more information, get plugged in and be a part of the process, what's the best way for them to do that?

Parag Agrawal 17:11I will say, thanks to our communications team—MORPC folks, City of Columbus, COTA, the communications teams—we are all working together to host a number of events throughout central Ohio. We have a very powerful and very informative newsletter in which people can see exactly how this LinkUS project will benefit their communities. Thanks to our communications team, we have put together fact sheets for each and every community that will benefit from LinkUS. So if I'm living in Dublin—like, I live in Lewis Center, although we are not part of the COTA district—but still, if Dublin wants to know how this LinkUS will benefit their community, they can go to that fact sheet and it will tell you all the information on how LinkUS will benefit these individual communities. So again, our goal is to provide all the information to the communities so that they can make an informed decision. So we are creating these fact sheets. You do not have to go through a 200-page planning document to understand what LinkUS is. We have created these two-minute videos—our communications team has created these two- or three-minute YouTube videos so that you can understand how this LinkUS project will benefit your community. So our goal is to provide all the information to residents of central Ohio so that they can make an informed decision.

Walker Evans 18:47Nice. And I assume all this is on the linkcolumbus.com. Well, thanks so much for spending some time with us today. Really appreciate learning more about everything you're working on.

Parag Agrawal 18:56No, thank you. And I'd really appreciate you talking to us and being such a big stakeholder in helping us transform central Ohio into a much better place. Thank you.

Tim Fulton 19:16Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite planner. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.