US Transportation chief: $25 million grant for streetcar an 'economic engine'

[thelakelander]

A new streetcar in Charlotte to complement their LRT line (Blue line) that opened 4 years ago.  This will be a 1.5 mile starter line (red line) that will eventually grow to become a 10-mile corridor (green extensions) running pependicular to the LRT line.

LaHood cites project, to begin in 2012, as type of jobs Obama is pushing for.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Monday formally awarded Charlotte $25 million for its starter streetcar line, and said in a campaign-style speech that congressional passage of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act would lead to similar projects and jobs.

The city plans to build a 1.5-mile streetcar line from Time Warner Cable Arena to Presbyterian Hospital. The city's goal is to extend it to create a 10-mile line from Beatties Ford Road to the site of the old Eastland Mall. It doesn't yet have a way to pay for it.

Construction will begin in December 2012, after the Democratic National Convention. The city hopes to begin service in 2015.

The line is expected to cost $37 million, with the city paying $12 million. The city hasn't said how it will pay for an estimated $1.5 million in operating costs.

The $25 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration wasn't a surprise; it was announced in spring 2010.

But with Obama urging Congress to pass his jobs plan, LaHood held a press conference at Central Piedmont Community College, located on the streetcar line.

"This rail line will become an economic engine," LaHood said.

LaHood said Obama's jobs proposal would fund additional highway and transit projects, and said there would be an additional $4 billion for high-speed rail.

The city said it estimates the streetcar will produce 385 jobs, using an FTA formula.

The N.C. Republican Party said Monday that President Obama "has been wrong all along."

"The rhetoric doesn't match the reality," said Rob Lockwood of the N.C. Republican Party. "If these programs worked as magically as they said would, we wouldn't have 9.1 percent unemployment."

The streetcar line has been controversial.

It will replace a Gold Rush shuttle line, and won't go any faster than a bus, unlike the 4-year-old Lynx Blue Line light-rail project.

Streetcar supporters say it will produce economic development, as businesses will want to locate along the rail line.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/09/20/2623428/us-transportation-chief-25-million.html

[thelakelander]

Kind of hard to see but here is the long term fixed transit plan for Charlotte.  Right now the 9.6-mile LYNX Blue Line, running from downtown to the southern suburbs, is the only corridor in operation.  This streetcar project will be a part of the dashed green lines shown on the map.  The silver line is BRT and the red line is commuter rail.  Four different modes not including local bus.  I guess transit riders will have to transfer depending on where they want to go....

[tufsu1]

An interesting note here is the City laid the streetcar tracks a few years back while reconstructing the street (with the idea of saving $ in the long-term)....with no guarantee that the project would ever be funded.

[Doctor_K]

An interesting note here is the City laid the streetcar tracks a few years back while reconstructing the street (with the idea of saving $ in the long-term)....with no guarantee that the project would ever be funded.

Foresight!

Must be nice to have that in your city's leadership and decision-making!

[thelakelander]

Here's an image of that section of Elizabeth Avenue:

[fieldafm]

An interesting note here is the City laid the streetcar tracks a few years back while reconstructing the street (with the idea of saving $ in the long-term)....with no guarantee that the project would ever be funded.

We do that too... there are big green highway signs sitting on the side of I-10 right now ready to be erected with the words 'outer beltway' printed right there is clear as day, even though this outer beltway isn't even funded