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It's been a while since we've posted such a sweet piece of transit porn; so, streetcar advocates, feel free to keep drooling as you read the rest of this text. To the right (and in more detail here), you'll find DDOT's comprehensive idea for an expanded streetcar network, based on the existing plans for H Street NE and Anacostia.
The District's streetcar initiative has taken some big steps recently, after being frozen in time for what felt like an eternity: diverting traffic for installation work on H Street NE and South Capitol Street, and the actual laying of tracks for the Anacostia section of the project. But from the looks of things, DDOT is hardly settling for such minor victories.
The agency is holding meetings in each ward over a span of 15 days to disseminate and discuss with the public the findings of its Transit Future study, a large part of which is this comprehensive streetcar plan for the entire District. ReadysetDC took in last Thursday's meeting in Ward 6, and reports back on his impressions:
Given the slow progress that's been made over the last few years and the increasingly low expectations, the new plan is nothing less than inspiring. It's clear from the new map filled with colorful lines snaking all over the District that DDOT means business: Streetcars are coming back to DC, and in a big way. Hearing DDOT lay out the new plan, one gets the impression that their witnessing the very first steps in the creation of another game-changing system, much like the system revealed 40 years ago that we have come to know as Metro.
Certainly high praise, but one can see where he's coming from. The vision presented at the open house is one of ultimate connectivity; streetcars filling in so many places where Metrorail just doesn't reach and Metrobus service is hit-or-miss, and supplementing other areas where transit is already available. Of course, it won't be cheap -- together, all three phases of the dynamic streetcar plan would cost $1.5 billion.
The next open house is scheduled for tomorrow at the Columbia Heights Education Campus at 3101 16th Street, NW; a full schedule of meetings can be found here. If you can't make it out to any of the meetings, all the presented information can be found at the streetcar page of DDOT's website.
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Cost is relative. 1.5 Billion is for the whole system. This is half the cost of the current Metro silver line construction.
As other cities like Portland have shown, every dollar in public spending on streetcars will attract many times that in private investment in the city. And this benefits DC directly, not the suburbs. Metro brings people in and out, streetcars build on the existing Metro infrastructure and links DC neighborhoods and moves residents to where they want to go more directly. Another step in making DC a world-class city.
The initial cost estimate for the entire Interstate Highway system was $25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $114 billion (adjusted for inflation, $425 billion in 2006 dollars).
The entire cost for JUST the Wilson Bridge was $2.5 billion.
Streetcars make sense in dense urban environment along crowded commercial corridors. They serve the dual purpose of augmenting the existing heavy rail Metro infrastructure as well as taking pressure off the bus system. I just hope the streetcars are given priority over cars/busses, because otherwise they're just stuck in gridlock with everybody else, defeating the whole purpose of having a streetcar. And for god's sake, no stopping every block-and-a-half.
you can't very well call DC a world class city these days without a streetcar network. or a bike share network with a separated bike track network. and pedestrian shopping streets. and high speed rail to other nearby metro areas. DC is still way behind the times. It's nice to at least see something on the drawing board. This should have already been built, like 10-15 years ago.
Instead of debating the cost of building this, you might consider the cost of DC's land-use and transportation policies being so far behind the times compared to global competitors. DC is starting to look more behind the times than a lot of developing countries.
I do like that they are providing additional connectivity to the metrorail system which is sorely needed. Sounds like it should be significantly cheaper than additional metro lines as well which is not surprising. I don't understand where they expect to put these streetcar lines downtown though. Are they going to be put in over existing streets for exclusive use instead of road traffic? Don't see how they could do it without some serious reconfiguration or loss of sections of major arteries to vehicle traffic.