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Streetcar Sends $25 Million Request to Feds

By Eric Richardson
Published: Wednesday, February 10, 2010, at 04:53PM
Red Streetcar Eric Richardson []

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Get ready to hear more about the Downtown streetcar.

The non-profit charged with building a Downtown streetcar today sent off its application for $25 million in federal funding, and later this month will launch an awareness campaign that will place ads on neighborhood bus stops.

The federal funds would provide a big boost to the streetcar project, which is estimated to cost $100 million to construct. The first line would connect L.A. Live and the Convention Center to Bunker Hill via Broadway.

The money is available under an "urban circulator" grant program administered by the Federal Transit Authority. The funding notice did not officially post until December 23, so , Council District 14 and city staff had to scramble to meet today's application deadline.

Six awards are expected to be given out in this round of funding.

At a Bringing Back Broadway streetcar committee meeting this afternoon, LASI Executive Director Dennis Allen said that he believes the project made a strong case to the federal government. The application included letters of support from stakeholders across Downtown, and even an official state endorsement written by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The upcoming ad campaign, built around the tag line "It's on track," will utilize space donated by CBS Decaux on Downtown street furniture.

Construction on the streetcar is expected to take place in 2013, with the line ready for use in 2014.

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Guest 1

JDRCRASH on February 10, 2010, at 07:57PM – #1

This is very great news.


Guest 2

Howard on February 10, 2010, at 08:01PM – #2

My URL is the official website. Folks can donate to help out. Few things in Los Angeles would make me happier than to see the return of the Streetcar.


Guest 3

Johnny on February 11, 2010, at 01:50AM – #3

Don't get me wrong, I love DTLA, being a resident here and all. But doesn't $100M sound like a LOT of money for streetcars? Let's assume that the Feds approve of the $25M grant, then what? Who's coming up with the remainder $75M, and what is the yearly upkeep?

The math doesn't add up for me.


Guest 4

Patrick on February 11, 2010, at 08:03AM – #4

Light rail, and street cars are historically underused and rarely if ever break even. They have to be subsidized by their entire life by"federal" (read: taxpayers)money,who most likely will never ride the dam thing. I'm certain the usual suspects over at Los Angeles City Hall are having their palms greased by Rail developers to push through this money hole in one of the worst local, state, and national economic climates ever! Get smart Los Angeles taxpayers!


Guest 5

Lawrence on February 11, 2010, at 08:23AM – #5

This is great. BTW 100 million for a streetcar system is a fraction of the cost of a light rail line and a great mode of transit for Downtown and other satellite cities around the L.A area. What's more is that streetcars can be built quickly and have routes that can be easily customized as the network grows.

@Patrick - no transit network is designed to make a profit and the notion that it should be somehow self sustaining financially is a fallacy. Public transit has historically been subsidized by taxpayers just as our national highway system has - though few would argue that it should financially self sustaining.

Public transit to where people need it including streetcars, light rail and subway is sorely needed. Los Angeles and the rest of the US are rapidly being left behind by other countries that understand the value and long term benefits of functional public transit infrastructure. Also a recession may be a perfect time to build these type of projects. Materials are cheaper and they can help provide a boost to the local economy. The benefits of this project far outweigh the costs.


Guest 6

Alek F on February 11, 2010, at 08:52AM – #6

This is great news! To the disbelievers: Streetcars in L.A. (as well as other parts of the country) is a promising solution, and will server as a strong engine to boost the Downtown economy. Enough cars! Enough traffic! Enough parking nightmares! Let's get real, and provide some innovative solutions for Angelenos - and Streetcars is a way to go!


Guest 7

Dana Gabbard on February 11, 2010, at 12:59PM – #7

"But doesn't $100M sound like a LOT of money for streetcars?"

I'm not a huge fan of this project, which I have always seen as more about tourism than transportation. But that costs sounds right as this is a start-up from scratch -- acquiring equipment, building support facilities (yards, electrical sub-stations) along with construction, the rails and overhead wires and whatever the stops entail (shelters, for example) plus the challenges of building along an established corridor. It all adds up.

Maybe we should dedicate some of the cities transient hotel tax to this project? That could help bridge the $75 million gap and would be appropriate (versus having regional transportation funds tapped).


Guest 8

Scott Mercer on February 11, 2010, at 01:00PM – #8

Was it a coincidence that the crash and decline of downtown happened during the same time period (not just here in Los Angeles but throughout North America) that our streetcar systems were unceremoniously RIPPED OUT instead of upgraded? Hell no, it's no coincidence. Buses are a poor substitute.

@Patrick: Aren't you late for your Tea Party meeting? Go sell your angry, defeatist rhetoric over there.


Eric Richardson () on February 11, 2010, at 02:38PM – #9

Scott: I would argue that the suburban push created both the decline and the ripping out of the streetcars, not that the streetcars disappearing led to Downtown's decline. We as a country wanted our cars. It's easy to look back and judge that now, but it's tough to see where that gets us.

Here's my new favorite mind-bender, though: If it weren't for L.A.'s mid-century auto craze and the development of the freeway system, we wouldn't have ended up with all the great old buildings that are now getting converted to modern uses. The 110 led to the skyscrapers being built west of the Historic Core, preserving buildings that would have otherwise been torn down and replaced.


Guest 9

Vero Queero on February 11, 2010, at 02:59PM – #10

I bet the streetcar gets finished before Angel's Flight reopens! (bada-bing!) It will get used--it won't solve all of our transportation woes. It IS a lot of money--all projects are a lot of money (I'm glad that someone pointed out taxpayer funds for highways lest we forget) But Eric, I don't think "we" demanded cars as much as the car manufacturers, along with petroleum companies, decided to make wide-open California their flagship state. You don't see Standard Oil or Occidental signs atop our skyscrapers any more, but they were here, leaving us their "legacy".


User_32

Russell Brown on February 11, 2010, at 08:33PM – #11

The streetcar will be the last quarter mile connector that will connect Bunker Hill/ and the Cultural center of Disney Concert Hall/ Music Center/MOCA/ Broad Museum (we hope) and Civic Center via Broadway and Hill to South Park and the Event Center of LA Live/ Staples/ Nokia/ Convention Center. This with the regional connector will make a car unneeded for downtown transit in 3/4ths of the busiest parts of downtown.

This will also connect to the Regional Connector at 2nd & Broadway (EXPO, Gold and Blue lines). Add in a Red Line (Hollywood & Valley) and Purple line connection (Wilshire to Santa Monica). The proposed route of the streetcar will also connect with all light rail at Flower and 11th.

Considering that subway is almost $400 million a mile and light rail is $150 million a mile, the streetcar at $25 mile plus cars and maintenance facility is cheap.

The Downtown Portland Streetcar had summer 2008 ridership at 12,500 a day. Cost $100 mil. The Gold line Eastside extension is projected to have ridership at end of 1st year at 13,000. Cost $900 mil.

So how is the streetcar too expensive? How about my recent parking tab at Omni Hotel for 2 hours and 10 minutes at $38? That is expensive.


Guest 10

Guest on February 11, 2010, at 09:27PM – #12

I couldn't agree more with the opponents of this thing. This $100 million would be better spent on the subway to the sea or on expanding metro throughout LA. This streetcar idea sounds good on the surface but spending that much money for a glorified Dash is not worth it at all.


User_32

Roger Christensen on February 12, 2010, at 03:51PM – #13

Great news! Will be worth every penny in terms of the economic development it will generate. This is a CRA project and not Metro or LADOT. Ask the merchants along the route in Portland.

Though my favorite aspect of the project is how it can tie together the disparate and isolated downtown destinations and neighbors. Can't wait!


Guest 11

Guest on February 12, 2010, at 09:48PM – #14

This is great news!


User_32

Jerard Wright on February 23, 2010, at 08:47PM – #15

$25M/mile for a streetcar is not a bad price.

Personally, if I were to build a starter streetcar line from scratch from a route perspective, I would have had a route that followed DASH Route E and extend from Good Samaritan Hospital to the Westlake/MacArthur Park Subway station down Wilshire Blvd to the West. To the East it would run down 7th Street and continue to either the Greyhound Terminal or Fashion District. It would relieve an overcrowded corridor in DASH route E, potentially have a high farebox recovery and promote a stronger redevelopment presence as well as serve an overlooked piece of Downtown and that's my old home, City West.

However, I realize what this Broadway Streetcar is.

A strong tool to leverage investment and redevelopment along the corridor and if it costs $100 million dollars to leverage up to $500M to maybe $750M in redevelopment that is a good return on investment.

It is a route that can be built easily to form the basis of creating more routes and corridors such as the above mentioned one, because at its core it inspires these conversations and provides a needed relief to those overburdened bus routes running up and down Broadway that at their core are geared for longer distance trips rather than short-hop travel that is needed for this area of Downtown, to develop a stronger more connected Downtown Los Angeles.

The other strength of Broadway has is that it stays within the core of Downtown without any visable critical construction delays, the route I suggested would have a major one in having to construct the subgrade on the Wilshire or 7th Street Bridge over the busy 110 freeway that is something a starter system needs more than anything, a project that can be assured politically that few delays will occur and there are few increases to the project budget.

When the service is coordinated as a critical transportation component, the bus services could be redeployed to make fewer stops on Broadway or possibly be moved one block from Broadway on Hill and Spring Streets to serve the same trips and destination patterns. For example the Rapid Buses could be the only routes that serve with the Streetcar and combined Rapid Bus and Streetcar stop could have functional streetscape amenties to emphasize that this IS an Integrated Transportation component as well as a catalyst for redevelopment.

I believe Broadway is just the start of more to come, but its a critical piece to begin discussing and visioning.



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