Transit Plan on Track
Streetcars Could Be Running on D.C. Roads by Late Next Year

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 13, 2008

The District's on-again, off-again streetcar project has reached a critical stage: Officials are to unseal bids next month and award a contract this fall for construction of tracks and other infrastructure. Three new modern streetcars have been bought and are sitting in storage in the Czech Republic.

If all goes according to plan, the red-and-gray streetcars could be running along a 1.3-mile stretch from Bolling Air Force Base to the Anacostia Metro station by late next year. That segment, which will cost about $45 million, would be part of an extensive network of streetcars and rapid bus service that transportation officials envision will stretch across the city in coming years.

Like transit planners elsewhere, District officials see the modern streetcar as a way to connect inner-city neighborhoods and jump-start economic development without harming the environment. Transportation officials are to give an update on the project at a public hearing tomorrow convened by D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1).

District transportation planners hope the streetcars can do for Washington what they did for Portland. In Oregon's largest city, the streetcar system that began operating in 2001 is credited with accelerating redevelopment along an eight-mile continuous loop, turning a once-deteriorating area of warehouses into one full of restaurants, upscale hotels and galleries. Planners say that every dollar spent on the system resulted in $18 of development. The Czech-built streetcars, the same type bought by the District, inspired a local brewery to make a beer in their honor, Streetcar Ale.

The renaissance of streetcars, a form of light rail, has been taking place across the country for the past several years. Light rail, which includes modern streetcars, had the highest percentage of ridership increase -- 10.3 percent -- of all transit in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Streetcars share lanes with automobiles and ride on rails built in existing streets. Power comes from overhead electric wires. The small-size trains are quiet, efficient and environmentally friendly, carrying people through high-density areas on short inner-city trips, reducing automobile traffic and parking.

At a time of "higher-than-ever fuel costs and greater-than-ever concerns about air quality," the appeal of streetcars is especially high, said Chris Zimmerman (D), Arlington County Board member.

Northern Virginia also has a streetcar project, a five-mile line along Columbia Pike in Arlington and Fairfax counties. Progress on that $172 million project is behind the District's, and because of Virginia state legislators' failure to come up with transportation funding, that streetcar line is certain to be delayed even further, officials said.

The projects coincide with plans in Maryland to build a light rail or bus rapid transit Purple Line extending inside the Beltway from Bethesda to New Carrollton.

In the District, the Anacostia streetcar segment is anticipated to have 1,400 daily riders, mostly made up of federal workers, District employees and city residents, according to transportation officials. The cars would travel with automobile traffic, on in-street embedded track occupying one of the lanes. For the past year, the three streetcars have been stored at the manufacturer's site in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Graham said he called tomorrow's hearing after attending a light rail conference in Istanbul last month representing Metro, for which he is a board member. The conference prompted him to question the project's scope and location, he said.

He has asked for a temporary hold on a budget request to transfer $10 million from another District transportation project, the 11th Street bridge, to the Anacostia streetcar segment. The initial streetcar line is funded entirely with District moneys.

"I don't think there's been a council oversight hearing on this project in more than five years," he said.

Although he supports streetcars and light rail, Graham questioned whether the planned Anacostia route made the most sense. It would be convenient for federal workers, he said, "but what are the direct benefits for the people of the District of Columbia? . . . Is this the most bang for the buck that we can get?"

Streetcar routes along H Street NE and K Street downtown might have more benefits, he said. City transportation officials say they hope to eventually run streetcars along K Street and in Capitol Hill and other corridors, adding a layer to the transit options created by the increasingly strained underground Metro system.

One streetcar route under consideration would follow the path of the popular DC Circulator bus from Benning Road and H Street NE to Union Station, then K Street, and then to the west side of downtown, according to Emeka Moneme, District transportation director.

"We have limited roadway capacity in the city, and this is a way to move more people," Moneme said.

Officials say Anacostia was chosen because it is underserved by transit and economic development. Several housing, retail and commercial projects are planned for the area around the Anacostia station. Streetcars can "really spur economic development," Moneme said.

Streetcars and the other infrastructure needed to run them are viewed by developers as a permanent commitment to improving a community, he said. By comparison, a new bus route can always be eliminated.

The streetcars to be used in Anacostia, manufactured by Skoda-Inekon in Plzen, Czech Republic, are about eight feet wide and 66 feet long, smaller than a typical Metrorail car. The District cars cost $3 million each.

The District project began several years ago. As part of the planning, city officials and residents traveled to Portland a few years ago -- some went twice -- to see its streetcar system firsthand.

Kenneth Davis, a District resident who made the trip, said he was sold on the merits of streetcars after riding. Some earlier proposals had irked residents who feared that any benefit the light rail line might bring would be outweighed by increased traffic and reduced curbside parking.

"It was impressive to watch the streetcars moving down very narrow streets," he said. "They didn't interfere with traffic or parking."

D.C. officials say one concern is the high rate of pedestrian traffic incidents around the Anacostia Metro station. Adding a transit service will require more control over pedestrian access, they said.

Officials said a 12-inch deep track slab design will reduce the time needed to construct the tracks.

The Anacostia project was originally slated to be longer, about three miles, and to run along CSX tracks between Bolling Air Force Base and Pennsylvania Avenue. But the city and CSX couldn't agree on a lease.

In 2005, officials proposed running the tracks along a stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road SE to Minnesota Avenue SE but abandoned those efforts after community opposition. Residents said the roads were too narrow for streetcars.

In January 2006, the project was shortened to 1.3 miles, running on its current alignment from Bolling, on South Capitol Street, to the Anacostia Metro station, with stops at the Navy Annex and Barry Farm on Firth Sterling.

The last District streetcar stopped running in January 1962. But for almost a century, streetcars clattered along steel tracks dug into the broad boulevards of the District and its suburbs, in one of the most extensive trolley systems in the country.

In Washington, a congressional ban on overhead wires in the heart of the city poses a special problem.

Unlike the Anacostia demonstration, where cars would draw power from a pole that connects with overhead wires, a more extensive streetcar network would need to rely on newer technology, such as a self-propelled system powered by battery, Moneme said.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this article.