A decade after the $200 million project began, the D.C. Streetcar has scheduled its grand opening for this Saturday, February 27.

Director of the District Department of Transportation Leif Dormsjo said that D.C. Fire Chief Gregory Dean is the “unsung hero” of bringing the beleaguered project to fruition on the Kojo Nnamdi Show this afternoon. Dean got personally involved in helping DDOT during the latter half of 2015 with documentation and standard operating procedures, he said

“I really do think that the introduction of a new team made the most amount of difference here. There were a lot of legitimate issues that the Safety Oversight Office had identified that were not addressed within my agency, and we needed to take ownership and responsibility for those things,” Dormsjo said.

News that the streetcar would begin passenger services was met with surprise because it had already blown past so many of its set deadlines. At one point, the project’s many delays led the Post editorial board to call it “D.C.’s streetcar to nowhere” and suggested pulling the plug.

Dormsjo said that DDOT brought in a number of consultants to look at the streetcar project and consider every option—including canning it. “We concluded that there weren’t any fatal flaws with the project,” he said. Consultants “gave us the sense that we had things that were correctable and there was some hard work ahead of us, and that certainly was the case, but that there wasn’t anything in the system that would support a no-build option.”

When the streetcar opens, it’ll be free for at least the first six months in what Dormsjo calls “promotional service.” After that, DDOT will assess fares and determine whether it’ll stay free.

Also under consideration in six months: whether the streetcar will affect service on Metro’s X2 bus, which operates on the same route. Dormsjo says his agency has been in touch with Metro, which currently has no plans to make adjustments. The idea for now, he said, is to overlay service on top of the X2.

For cyclists, the streetcar represents a new peril in biking down H Street. Dormsjo said that DDOT is encouraging bikers to use alternate routes, though the streetcars will have room for riders’ bikes.

The starter line—which travels on H Street from Union Station to Benning Road—was envisioned by planners as the first of many routes that would create a streetcar network in the city.

Screenshot courtesy of dcstreetcar.com.

Dormsjo said that DDOT is studying the extension of the starter line, which is “years away” from happening.

But have all of the delays made for a populace too jaded to ride the streetcar? “There is frustration, obviously, but now that we have the opening in sight I think there’s palpable excitement,” said Dormsjo.