Voters might be asked to approve a sales tax next year if they want a light rail to connect Durham, Orange and Wake counties, Durham Mayor Bill Bell said in an interview this week.

He said it could take until November of 2010 to bring this issue to a vote due to difficult current economic conditions, and said it could be 15 to 20 years before a electrified light rail would be running in the area.

“What I hope is between now and 2010, the economy will improve, and we’ll have time to educate the voting public on the needs and the extent to which light rail will be a benefit,” Bell said.

Bell shared his thoughts this week prior to an upcoming meeting state metropolitan mayors plan to have about transportation issues.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell

Anyone who has crawled through traffic on U.S. 15-501 during rush hour would be glad these elected officials are tackling transportation, which will be a focus of the N.C. Metro Mayors Coalition meeting scheduled for Aug. 27 in Concord.

Mayors, including Bell, are concerned about this in light of population projections that place the majority of the growth in the state’s cities. Eighty-eight percent of North Carolina’s projected growth by the year 2030 will take place in our metropolitan areas, the coalition says. The population of Durham county alone is expected to balloon. According to the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management, 407,971 people are projected to live in this county in July of 2029, up from 260,471 estimated to live here now.

Bell said he is concerned that mayors cannot tackle urban congestion issues with roads alone: He is among those advocating for a light rail system in the Research Triangle area, a proposal advanced by the recent transportation bill passed in North Carolina that authorizes counties to hold referendums for a sales tax to help pay for local transit options.