Tag Cloud
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Streetcar plan explained
by Kathleen Haley, published on July 30, 2010 at 2:32PM
Storyline: Regional Issues
No high resolution image exists...
Loading images
A study to map out a streetcar route linking Sacramento to West Sacramento is expected to start this fall, according to city Transportation Department spokeswoman Linda Tucker.
More than $400,000 in funding has been set aside for the study -- $310,000 from federal grant funds obtained earlier this year and $90,000 from local transportation funds, said Azadeh Doherty, a principal planner in the department.
The current plan for the streetcar includes a path in West Sacramento, but does not lay out a route in Sacramento. Under the most recent plan, the streetcar would run from West Sacramento City Hall, across Tower Bridge and stop in Old Sacramento at the foot of the bridge.
The city will consider ideas for a route in Sacramento in the upcoming study.
Tucker provided more detail about the study Wednesday in an e-mail to The Sacramento Press.
The Sacramento Press: Who will conduct this study?
Tucker: The City will conduct the study to explore the best route to serve the most riders on the Sacramento side of the river.
City staff from (the) Department of Transportation and the Economic Development department will co-manage the project with the help of a consultant team. We will post a Request for Qualifications for a consultant sometime in August/September. The study should get going this fall.
SP: Will the public and stakeholders be able to influence this study?
Tucker: Absolutely, there will be opportunities for public input through public meetings and a stakeholder advisory group of Sacramento stakeholders and residents. Key stakeholders are Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), developers, business owners and advocacy groups such as the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Chambers of Commerce on both sides of the river, Regional Transit (which will operate the streetcar), public transit riders, bicycle and walking advocates and Old Sacramento, to name a few.
We’re looking forward to getting started to have the public and experts weigh in. The study will be a companion to our previous studies: the Bikeway Master Plan, Parking Master Plan, Pedestrian Master Plan, General Plan, Regional Transit Master Plan, Township 9 and Railyards.
Once the streetcar study is completed, we will be able to do a comprehensive downtown circulation study next summer that will integrate all that was documented during these other studies completed in recent years.
SP: How will Caltrans be involved in the study?
Tucker: They are a stakeholder as they own the Tower Bridge, which will be the streetcar crossing. However, we do not expect they would have an inordinate amount of involvement merely because the funds passed through them from SACOG to us.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
Conversation Express your views,
debate, and be heard with those in your area closest
to the issue.
Leave a Comment
It didn't even take me 400K to figure that out.
I like the route for the the most part you suggest except the stop a the 19th and Q Site. You might as well wait to get to the 16th Street Station where the ped routes and destinations are better situated.
The other problem is many people feel that going up Capitol Mall does not do the area justice visually with wires strung across the street.
The most recent West Sac plan was based on $25 million in funding from a federal grant, applied for by West Sacramento. West Sacramento has already agreed to tax itself to pay for much of their part of the streetcar system, but they aren't large enough to provide the lion's share of the funding. What they need is agreement from our side of the river--they probably lost that grant because they lacked a firm commitment from Sacramento over how our half would work. In the long run, having a streetcar system will let West Sacramento get dense enough to pull their own weight in future development. In the meantime, they are already taxing themselves to pay for it. Apparently we don't have the guts to do that.
As to Capitol Mall, the answer is, well, don't do it like that. Instead of running the train down the center of Capitol Avenue (exactly where the Sacramento Northern's electric interurbans used to run) run them on the outer lanes of Capitol adjacent to the sidewalk. By using hangers at the curb edge, the wires don't visually obstruct the view of the Capitol or the grassy median of the Mall. It also means you can put the streetcar stops on the curbs, allowing multiple stops along Capitol Mall, instead of in the middle of the street.
Perhaps you'd rather go "vroom vroom!" with your toy cars, but cities require a mixture of transportation types. Streetcars are a vital part of that mixture, one that we have been missing. They fill a necessary gap between light rail and buses.
Lower opertaing costs? Snort. Chuckle. The light rail record says otherwise....much higher capital costs.
A smoother ride? Jerk, jerk, jerk goes the light rail (and my back). No better or worse than a bus. An idle bus which RT has to spare at that.
Permanence and stability? Inflexibility and inability to adjust to commuter needs.
Catalyze infill develoopment? *cough* K Street *cough*. Not happening.
People like them more than buses? Buses at least have a "gatekeeper" that deters fare jumping smelly homeless and gangbangers. (Some streetcars may be designed to do same, a la San Francisco, but they don't carry more people than a bus and are essentially buses with tracks).
The only way streetcars would be preferable is if outside tourists like them, a la San Francisco again. For commuters and locals? Don't make me laugh.
It's bad enough that RT is going ahead with a Railyards LRT spur while cannibalizing a host of suburban commuter routes that led into downtown, or at least to Watt and I-80.
Buses have not been succesful for short routes in the Central City. As in other Cities the Streetcar has proven to be a more popular urban transport than a bus because of the fixed route and better headways.
The construction and operating costs are lower. Look it up. Lots of data out there on it.
Streetcars will be smoother. No high speeds or major elevations changes than light rail.
Streetcars, like the modern system in Portland,do have "gatekeepers".
In other cities both tourists and locals use them to get from place to place. Meetings, lunches, etc.
Incidentally--plenty of historic streetcars had larger capacities than buses, unless you're talking about really small streetcars like Birney single-truck safety cars.
RT can't "cannibalize" operating routes for new construction--operation and construction are separate budgets. For various reasons, there are funds for new construction but not operation, and funds for new construction cannot be used for operation. If RT gets funds to build, they can't divert that funding for operation on existing routes! So no, they aren't being "cannibalized," the state yanked the operating funding and there is no way to replace it.
Flexibility is important in outlying suburban areas where growth is more dynamic, but Sacramento's central city has been around for 150 years and is unlikely to go away any time soon. Infill projects (like K Street) have suffered because of instability in transportation methods--a streetcar is a practical way to stabilize things. And if you want examples of transit-oriented infill, take a look at the Alexan apartments, built as TOD near the 29th Street light rail station, or the infill projects at 65th and Folsom near the 65th Street station, or CADA's projects near 13th and 16th Street. It has already happened!