[nfbwatlk] Transport Politic: Washington Promotes Massive New Streetcar Project

[Jacob Struiksma]

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2009/10/28/washington-promotes-massive-ne
w-streetcar-project/

  Washington Promotes Massive New Streetcar Project

  October 28, 2009

  > Lines could be completed in ten years; is it the right
  investment?

  Like seemingly every other city in the country, Washington, DC
  is planning a streetcar network. Its transportation officials,
  however, seem uniquely positioned to actually construct their
  system; unlike other municipalities, Washington is installing
  tracks in the ground - albeit with no power source -
  and owns several streetcar vehicles - though they're
  in storage in the Czech Republic.

  Last week, Greater Greater Washington broke the big story, which
  is that the District plans eight streetcar lines to be built in
  three phases, to extend 37 miles across the city. Beyond DC
  followed up with news that local transportation officials expect
  the project's completion in ten years or less at a total
  cost of $1.5 billion. It would be the most significant example
  of municipal entrepreneurship on behalf of such street-running
  light rail vehicles in almost a century.

  At a first glance, the project seems well-planned - the
  streetcar network would complement existing Metro lines and
  complete connections that are tenuous today. The first routes
  would serve transit-deprived and primarily lower-class
  neighborhoods along H Street and Benning Road in Northeast
  Washington; along the planned K Street Transitway downtown; from
  Anacostia north along 8th Street through Capitol Hill and into
  the developing Navy Yard/Ballpark district; and north-south
  along 14th Street and Georgia Avenue.

  The full network, as illustrated above, would connect a number
  of destinations with the intention of linking Metro stations
  circumferentially. Anacostia's Minnesota Avenue Orange
  Line stop and Anacostia Green Line stop would be linked directly
  along Minnesota Avenue; Woodley Park, Adams Morgan, and Union
  Station would find themselves closer via a new streetcar on
  Calvert Street, U Street, and Florida Avenue; and new Rhode
  Island Avenue and Columbia Road lines could ensure east-west
  connections in Mid City. Wealthy and white Northwest DC would
  get virtually no service. This plan is dramatically more
  ambitious than that envisioned in 2005 by the city, which
  proposed fewer streetcars and more bus lines.

  There is no provision for new transit on Pennsylvania Avenue,
  which bisects the city; this despite the fact that the 30s buses
  that currently use the street are the city's most popular.

  From a process standpoint, the District's decision to
  pursue streetcar construction in a series of phases rather than
  line-by-line is an unusual approach that indicates the
  city's interest in developing the system as a network,
  rather than as a series of individual elements. Each of the
  three phases will undergo an impact study, and will be
  constructed as a unit. The 1.5-mile Anacostia line already
  planned for fall 2012 and the tracks being laid on H Street and
  Benning road already will be incorporated into the first phase.

  This is an important advance that evokes memories of the
  development of the Washington Metro, virtually all of whose
  construction followed a single plan and environmental assessment
  developed when the project was first authorized. Because of
  procedural changes in the 1970s and 80s by the Federal Transit
  Administration, most transportation authorities have approached
  capital expansion from the perspective of serving one corridor
  at a time, rather than in the interest of planning a unified
  network from the start. Washington's decision to
  articulate a streetcar system now, rather than suggesting, for
  instance, one line in Anacostia, followed by something else to
  be determined at a later time, is the right move.

  The decision to move forward with this network plan would allow
  overall completion by 2019 if the District is able to assemble
  enough local and national money. Federal aid in the form of
  Small Start grants seem likely.

  There are some contradictions in the District's proposal.
  The Department of Transportation, according to Beyond DC, plans
  streetcars as a quick way to get around the city, with stations
  positioned every four to five blocks (a quarter mile), versus
  every two blocks, typical for local buses (and the Portland
  Streetcar, for instance). For many people, streetcars would be
  the city's most convenient and fastest mode of
  transportation and provide service levels somewhere between
  that offered by express buses and the Metro.

  Yet plans also call for platforms that aren't
  full-length; worse, the city will not generally operate trains
  with more than one car, meaning it's not expecting
  particularly large numbers of users. Streetcars will operate in
  mostly mixed traffic, with the exception of along K Street, M
  Street Southeast, and Rhode Island Avenue: everywhere else, the
  vehicles would be competing with automobile traffic.
  That's not a recipe for success, but it certainly will
  allow the city to build more miles for less money. It's
  the primary explanation for why $1.5 billion is enough to
  construct this large of a system.

  One wonders if Washington would benefit from fewer lines with
  increased investment in those that are built. Though
  right-of-ways are not available for full reservation, between
  intersections most of the DC streets planned for streetcar lines
  are wide enough to provide independent lanes for the streetcars
  alone. There's no reason to mix train and automobile
  traffic, and if the city chooses to separate the right-of-ways,
  ridership will increase correspondingly.

  The city wants to build a 37-mile system, but perhaps it should
  double its proposed price tag and extend the time frame for
  completion. A faster, more reliable system that takes longer to
  build will be more worthwhile than a street-running network
  thrown together at a minimal cost.

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-- 
David Levinger |  206-390-8118 <skype:2063908118>