Photo by philliefan99.

When Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) stated in no uncertain terms yesterday that he wouldn’t let the H Street NE streetcar travel up Third Street NE on its way to Union Station, it may have seemed like a good ol’ community fight was in the brewing. The D.C. Department of Transportation had floated the idea, after all, and Mayor Vince Gray was set to speak at a streetcar-related forum that same evening.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

“Let me be absolutely clear,” said Gray. “We’re not running any streetcars down Second or Third Street,” he emphasized, much to the relief of the 350 people that had come to the Atlas Performing Arts Center for the event, many girding for a fight. Instead, Gray said, he had settled on keeping the streetcars on H Street and running them over the Hopscotch Bridge, where they will connect with a pedestrian access route to Union Station.

The forum was part of a periodic series of meeting with the community where city officials provide updates on the progress of the long-awaited H Street streetcar, which will eventually be part of a broader 37-mile network crisscrossing the District.

According to DDOT officials, 80 percent of the roadway work has already been done, and the second phase of the H Street project is slated to kick off next Spring. That will include the installation of the means to power the streetcars — overhead wires connected to three substations, one at either end of the line and one in the middle. Sensing potential opposition to the wires, one engineer stressed that each wire will be no thicker than a pen. A car barn and training center will also be built alongside Spingarn High School on Benning Road.

As for the Hopscotch Bridge, DDOT’s head streetcar engineer reported that they had checked to see that it could withstand the weight of the streetcars, and much to their surprise it would little different than a regular Metrobus. A few repairs will be made to the bridge, though, which was last rehabbed in the 1970s.

Given that the most contentious issue was taken off the table early on, the questions remained tame. What will happen to the X2 bus? There are no plans to get rid of it, said DDOT Director Terry Bellamy. Will streetcars be noisy? Only really on turns, but generally not any louder than a bus. How will transfers work? That’s to be determined. How about displacement of small businesses due to rising land values? That, Bellamy implied, isn’t something that he may have a lot of control over.

“We live in a free marketplace…we can’t control property values,” he said.

The next streetcar meeting is on December 20 at 6 p.m. in the Atlas Performing Arts Center. On December 16, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) will hold a hearing on “Financing and Governance of the D.C. Streetcar System.” Currently, the city has budgeted $99 million over the next six years for the H Street line; the entire network is expected to cost $1.5 billion to build.