Preliminary studies show homes near stops of a proposed light-rail system could go up $1,100 in value and owners of commercial rental properties can expect an additional $22,000 per year in rent, the firm preparing a cost-benefit study on the system said Thursday.

        In addition, the system could mean a shorter commute between Blue Ash and downtown in coming years, David Lewis, president of HLB Decision Economics, told the Metropolitan Mobility Alliance.

        The numbers are part of a study being done on the light-rail project on behalf of the alliance, a group created by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments to study the viability of light rail and options to pay for it.

        The full study on the proposed $800 million project will be released at the alliance's next meeting Feb. 27.

        “We have to see the merits and demerits of the investment before we make the decision to take the plunge,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Tom Neyer Jr., chairman of the alliance. “We've got to find out if we'll get our money's worth, and this is the best way to do that.”

        Officials from OKI and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority are proposing a light-rail system for Greater Cincinnati, starting with a 19-stop route between Covington and Blue Ash that would run along Interstate 71, with construction to start in 2004.

        According to statistics presented Thursday, the drive time between Blue Ash to downtown would still rise from about 40 minutes now to about 46 minutes door-to-door by 2008 with or without a light-rail system.

        But, Dr. Lewis said, with a light-rail system, the commute would stay at 46 minutes through 2020, compared with 56 minutes without light rail and with an expansion of Interstate 71.

        “And that all has costs associated with it, like extra fuel and lost productivity,” said Dr. Lewis, the former chief transportation economist for the Congressional Budget Office, who stressed the numbers were preliminary.

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