By: Zachary Shahan
As I discussed yesterday, it looks like streetcars are making a comeback. Curious about which cities are on the move? The Community Streetcar Coalition held a summit earlier this year in Alexandria, Virginia where it brought together people working to get new streetcars running in 22 cities across the nation.
Cities that may be constructing streetcar lines within a year or two are below, as well as a few insights on and expectations for those most likely to be built.
Cities working on plans to create their first modern streetcar lines include:
* Little Rock, Arkansas
* Los Angeles, California
* Sacramento, California
* Fort Lauderdale, Florida
* Atlanta, Georgia
* Boise, Idaho
* New Orleans, Louisiana
* Baltimore, Maryland
* Grand Rapids, Michigan
* Charlotte, North Carolina
* Cincinnati, Ohio
* Columbus, Ohio
* Lake Oswego, Oregon
* Providence, Rhode Island
* Dallas, Texas
* Fort Worth, Texas
* San Antonio, Texas
* Salt Lake City, Utah
* Arlington, Virginia
* Kenosha, Wisconsin
* Tucson, Arizona
* Washington, D.C.
Leading Streetcar Cities
New Urban News highlights two of the potential new streetcar systems most likely to get off the drawing board in the coming years as well as extensions of two of the nation’s first modern streetcar systems:
* Tucson Modern Streetcar, a 3.9-mile line which, when it opens, may carry 3,600 riders per weekday on a route connecting downtown Tucson to the University of Arizona. The Tucson line received funding through a US Department of Transportation TIGER grant in February, as did lines in Detroit, Dallas, New Orleans, and Portland.
* Seattle's First Hill Streetcar, a 2.2-mile line that would connect Capitol Hill, First Hill, and the International District to Link light rail and Sounder commuter rail. It would be Seattle's second modern streetcar line, joining the South Lake Union Streetcar, which started operating in December 2007.
* District of Columbia Streetcar, a 37-mile network that would offer the first streetcar service in the nation's capital since 1962. Construction of a two-mile segment linking Union Station to an emerging retail and entertainment district has already begun, its $75 million cost paid entirely by local funds. Another $30 million segment, also paid for with local funds, would connect a federal employment center to the low-income Anacostia neighborhood.
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* Extension of the Portland Streetcar -- the line that in 2001 kicked off America's streetcar renaissance -- to areas on the east side of the Willamette River, thus making a loop of the city center. The project, which could generate 2,500 housing units, has begun construction.
I went to a one-day streetcar workshop as well as a few transportation conferences a couple years and I know people in many more places than the cities listed above are interested in bringing a streetcar to their city or town. These cities are leading the way, but what will the future look like? Will streetcars become key features of just a handful of cities? Or is the streetcar finally going to be revived in the United States?
Image Credit: cuellar via flickr under a CC license
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5 Comments
Add CommentI love it. If I have a choice between streetcars and light rail versus buses, I'll take rail every time. For one thing, you can't arbitrarily reroute streetcars like you can buses, so if you're in an unfamiliar city, you are unlikely to get lost in a streetcar. (The one city I saw that did reroute streetcars, for street repairs, was Sofia, Bulgaria.) But streetcars, the first time around, were woefully unprofitable. The myth is that streetcars were bought out so auto manufacturers could sell cars. The reality is they were bought up so they could sell buses, which were called "trackless trolleys." Of course, mere facts will not stop people from writing in and claiming streetcar lines were sabotaged for the sake of cars. Buses don't require tracks, so they can be rerouted easily (one of their selling points when they displaced trolleys). The Tucson line is going to carry 3600 passengers a day. That's not going to pay for the cost of the tracks and cars before the next Ice Age. If we're willing to subsidize these lines, great, but let's have no illusions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow long before the interurbans return to the US. Living near Toronto I appreciate the intercity GO transit buses and trains.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStreetcars support dense walkable urban development. They are not profitable any more than any type of transportation infrastructure is profitable. As one of the pieces needed for great cities, they are a complement to, not a substitute for, other forms of transit such as light rail, bus transit, or high speed intercity rail.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSteve D wrote in part"...The Tucson line is going to carry 3600 passengers a day. That's not going to pay for the cost of the tracks and cars before the next Ice Age. If we're willing to subsidize these lines, great, but let's have no illusions."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf by, "...That's not going to pay..." he meant revenue from the passenger tickets, I agree. Urban rail lines make money, otherwise they wouldn't be built--they just don't make money from the tickets. Police departments don't pay for themselves from "the tickets" either, but few would argue that they are unnecessary.
Most buses serve transit dependent riders only; rail attracts choice riders--a cross-section of the general public--and hence creates a political constituency to support transit.
In Phoenix, the light rail line cost #1.5 billion to build, but catalyzed several times that in corridor investment--half of it private sector money. There is no reason not to believe that the Tucson line will have similar success. Rail is an economic development tool that enables the participation of all citizens in the local economy--not just those with access to automobiles.
Living in Portland, I'll just note that our streetcars are beautiful, and contribute to a very "civilized" urban feel in the downtown core, but they're woefully slow (& seem incredibly expensive compared to other ways of moving people around). You can very nearly walk briskly as fast as the streetcar will move you from place to place. I'll be interested to see what the streetcar experience is like as it's extended to the east side of the river. Much as I enjoy riding them, and seeing them in the city, I'm just not convinced they make sense as a transportation mode.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn a broader question, it's really interesting to me that some people will gladly ride light rail or streetcars, but not buses. I think there's some ineffable advantage to the experience of rail & it's too bad we can't figure out how to extend whatever provides that (more room/comfort?) to buses, which seem like a more cost-effective way to get people where they want to go.