Photo by Andrew Bossi

In front of a small group of reporters, D.C. Department of Transportation officials were asked the million (or several million) dollar question: When will the streetcar begin running?

Sometime in 2014 was the best answer provided.

DDOT chief engineer Nick Nicholson explained that testing rollout will begin in December. After that, there will be a testing and certification process that will, essentially, take as long as it takes. After the system is certified by the State Safety Oversight Agency, which is part of the D.C. Fire and EMS Department, streetcars will begin carrying passengers after 30 days. When pushed to provide a timetable, Nicholson said they will get the streetcar running as “soon as we can.”

Ron Garraffa, a senior construction manager, said certification for a three-mile system in Tampa, Fla. along a road that does not have the same mixed-use purpose as H Street, as well as none of the parking and pedestrian pressure, took 90 to 120 days. Certification of D.C.’s first 2.2-mile streetcar line is expected to take longer than that.

Streetcars will first hit H Street and Benning Road NE next month. Program manger Thomas Perry said that an engagement team has already been deployed to get the area to accept the changes that are coming. This will include issuing warnings and tickets to double-parked cars.

Thus far, the H Street-Benning line and Anacostia line projects have cost $161 million, which is over budget. An additional $29 million will be requested.

When the streetcar does begin running, fares and operating times will likely be the same as the Circulator. Despite the years of delays to the first leg of the streetcar line, Nicholson said the entire 22-mile system should be completed in five to seven years.