Portland: Obviously their first line has been a success and now they are looking to expand. Citizen planning has already begun and a review of corridors will be underway shortly. They also have a leg up given the United Streetcar folks would make cars for them in town.
Seattle: Construction on the South Lake Union streetcar line is almost complete and there are plans for a more extensive network. There are maps in this report.
Minneapolis: After the success of the Hiawatha Line, Minneapolis is ready for expansion. They are in the third stage of planning for a streetcar network downtown that would consist of a number of corridors.
Washington DC: Plans for a streetcar network are beginning with the Anacostia Streetcar however they have hit a snag with some overhead wire rules that have been discussed earlier in the blog. But that hasn't stopped them from planning corridors or having the first streetcars tested.
Some cities such as Baltimore are hopeful, but haven't gotten into the planning stages yet.
I think its important to think big. As i've said before, one line does not a transit system make, and its important to have a network so people can go more places. Streetcars serve a certain short hop circulation service in street and can be used for shorter line haul operations but there are some jobs that light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, or bus can do better. But there's nothing like a good land use plan and a streetcar to rebuild a neighborhood.
(Sorry for the picture quality, but I took screen shots from the linked PDFs)
12 comments:
You can add Denver to that list. It's in the very early stages, but the City of Denver is hoping to use streetcars as feeders to some of the lightrail and commuter rail stations, as well as hoping to reintroduce it to Colfax Ave.
Hey Brandon, do you know if they've created any maps or done plans? I've heard of streetcars on Colfax and the inner-city streetcar lines would be a wonderful addition to the burgeoning light and commuter rail network.
I haven't seen any maps yet. There is a streetcar workshop coming up later this year, in October or November I think. The three routes that I hear coming up most often are East Colfax, 38th Ave, and somewhere in north Denver around the upcoming 40th Ave rail station. I'll keep you updated as a hear more.
Grand Rapids, Mich. has ramped up its planning for a streetcar loop downtown. The city's transit agency has approved funds to study the feasibility of a proposed project. More here: http://www.ridetherapid.org/about/streetcarstudy/
Very cool. If you make a post about all the options and extensions I'll put a link to it under the networks section.
Here is a post with extension and alignment map. More information will be added as they are made available. Check out the post here.
you can add west sacramento/sacramento to that list
http://www.riversfrontstreetcar.com/
Thanks for the post Brian. This is just a single line right? Is there a plan for a network?
You can add a Columbus (OH) plan all but confirmed by the mayor (who present its funding plan to public in two weeks).
http://downtowncolumbus.com/publications/DCSWG7PossibleRoutesMap.pdf
The first line will be Red + Blue on the map, except the bottom half (loop) of the Blue line is not included in the phase 1 due to the Interstate highway realignment (ugh!). Stay tuned!
Add JACKSONVILLE to your list, as of tomorrow the streetcar starter line study will be posted on the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Website. We spent all day working on the layouts for our new Commuter Rail System, and we have BRT and our Monorail in the plans as well. We can self-finance at least two projects so expect us to skyrocket into the game.
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