Photo via DDOT.
Good news, everyone: there are no “fatal flaws” in the H Street-Benning Road streetcar!
In a letter to District Department of Transportation director Leif Dormsjo—who now-famously stated that the streetcar may never run—the American Public Transportation Association said that their review team “found that there are no fatal flaws that would prevent the streetcar project from entering revenue service.”
Good news, indeed, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There are still many issues that need to be addressed. The APTA’s peer review team came up with a hefty list of tasks that should be done before the streetcar opens for passenger service.
The list of 18 items APTA suggests DDOT complete before beginning passenger service ranges from simple things like repairing onboard radios to more complicated, time-consuming tasks such as working to improve traffic signal coordination. Also, ensure they’re not briefly catching on fire.
“Before, I didn’t have enough credible, expert advice to know whether we were a ‘go’ or ‘no go.’ I really now feel we are a go,” Dormsjo told WAMU’s Martin Di Caro in an interview. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. It is clear from the APTA review that there are some systems, some plans, some practices that need to be upgraded. There is some physical work that needs to be completed.”
All promising news for the chronically troubled streetcar project, which, at this point, is mostly serving as the butt of many jokes. APTA says they’ll provide a draft report of their findings in mid-April.
