News
A Streetcar Named Cowtown?
December 2, 2010
| Clang went the trolley! But what sound does a modern streetcar make? Fort Worth leaders hope to find out. There’s a town hall meeting at 7 pm tonight in the Fort Worth Convention Center Ballroom on that topic. | |
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| Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief unveiled a streetcar outside the Oil & Gas Commerce Building at 309 W. 7th St. (managed by Stream Realty, who shared the pics with us) Nov. 17. It’s now gone, but the idea was to inform the public about new transportation opportunities. Fort Worth hasn't had a streetcar for more than a generation. “When it comes to transportation, there’s no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ and before we even begin to think about laying rail, we must do our homework,” the mayor says. City Council members visited other cities to look at modern streetcar systems and the Council approved the first two phases of a study in April, and will consider a resolution authorizing the third phase of the study at its Dec. 7 meeting at City Hall. | |
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| In July, the Federal Transit Administration awarded the city $25M for its streetcar loop. The tentative plan is for a two and a half mile, one-way streetcar loop with about two dozen stops and three vehicles to connect a Trinity Railway Express commuter rail station and Intermodal Transportation Center with the CBD. This will be the hub of a planned streetcar network connecting six designated urban villages targeted for redevelopment to the city’s major employment centers, such as downtown and the near Southside Medical District. The city’s consultant, HDR Engineering SVP Charlie Hales, did a feasibility study projecting a first-phase cost of $81M to $86M for a nearly six-mile track around the city, and with an economic impact of $335M in additional investments along the line. | |
