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National Streetcar Conference in Los Angeles
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Thursday afternoon at Los Angeles’ historic Orpheum Theater, myself and 250 others attended the National Streetcar Conference. Sponsored by Reconnecting America, The Seaside Institute, and a local Los Angeles City Councilmember, the conference brought engineers and other experts from around the country together to discuss bringing back streetcars to America’s towns and cities. (For more coverage, see BlogDowntown and Streetsblog LA).
Streetcars, trolleys, or trams were a familiar part of cities and towns in America before World War II. They are making a comeback, however, in places as diverse as small Kenosha, Wisconsin to Portland, Oregon.
Streetcars, unlike their close cousin light rail, are designed for “place making” (as one panelist called it) as much as they are about “through” transportation. Streetcars help create walkable, sustainable, and attractive communities. They help integrate people with other transportation resources like intercity rail (Amtrak or commuter rail), rail transit, car-sharing, or bicycling. They allow people the option of having only one or no cars in their households and using them far less often and otherwise encouraging “transit-oriented development”.
What impressed me most, however, was how much local businesses and residents were involved in the planning and financing of their streetcars. In the various case studies that we went over, stakeholders elected to assess themselves special fees to pay for a part of construction. And given innovative construction techniques such as using a very light sub-base for the track structure (therefore no underground utility relocation is necessary) and running in existing streets and mediums, construction costs are very low, in the range of $10 to $25 million per mile.
Are streetcars a good idea for your community?
Dennis Lytton
Member, NARP Board of Directors
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