(re)Building on a strong foundation.
Transportation modes will be defining the rate of success in municipalities across this continent. From our mayors recent decision to invest in a hybrid bus system to his obsession with spending $75 million on the US side of the tunnel, to the plans for an international passenger ferry between downtown Detroit and downtown Windsor - these decisions will make-or-break our economic turnaround.
So, with recent decisions to spend tens/hundreds of millions of dollars on various big-ticket projects that are pitched as keys to Windsor’s revitalization, would it not seem logical to build a strong foundation first, and then augment that plan with arenas and marinas? When successful communities can state “(s)ince Portland announced plans for the (light rail) system, more than 10,000 residential units have been built and $3.5 billion has been invested in property within two blocks of the line, according to Portland Streetcar Inc., which operates the system“, wouldn’t it be wise to use this as an impetus to financing the growth it would surely bring to the region?
From yesterdays New York Times;
Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future
By BOB DRIEHAUS
Published: August 13, 2008CINCINNATI From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.
He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.
“Human beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,” Mr. de Cavel said. “Streetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.”
Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop. Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.
The city plans to pay for the system with existing tax revenue and $30 million in private investment. The plan requires the approval of Mayor Mark Mallory, a proponent, and the City Council.
At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according to the Community Streetcar Coalition, which includes city officials, transit authorities and engineers who advocate streetcar construction.
More than a dozen have existing lines, including New Orleans, which is restoring a system devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And Denver, Houston, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, N.C., have introduced or are planning to introduce streetcars.
“They serve to coalesce a neighborhood,” said Jim Graebner, chairman of the American Public Transportation Association’s streetcar and vintage trolley committee. “That’s very evident in places like San Francisco, which never got rid of its streetcar system.”
Modern streetcars, like those Cincinnati plans to use, cost about $3 million each, run on an overhead electrical wire and carry up to 130 passengers per car on rails that are flush with the pavement. And since streetcars can pick up passengers on either side, they can make shorter stops than buses.
Streetcar advocates point to Portland, Ore., which built the first major modern streetcar system in the United States, in 2001, and has since added new lines interlaced with a growing light rail system. Since Portland announced plans for the system, more than 10,000 residential units have been built and $3.5 billion has been invested in property within two blocks of the line, according to Portland Streetcar Inc., which operates the system.
Critics, including Randal O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization in Washington, and an expert on urban growth and transportation issues, counter that growth along streetcar lines is dependent on public subsidy and of little use.
“It looks like it’s going to take you somewhere, but it’s only designed to support downtown residents,” he said. “If officials fall for the hype and don’t ask the hard questions, voters should vote them out.”
Cincinnati’s streetcar enthusiasts counter that they serve to shrink residents’ everyday world of work, shopping and entertainment by bringing services and businesses to one area.
“One happy consequence will be that streetcar customers who live in the area will be less mobile by choice,” said John Schneider, a Cincinnati real estate developer and downtown resident who championed an unsuccessful 2002 county sales tax proposal that would have financed a regional light rail system.
Since then, gas prices have risen sharply and advocates have started emphasizing streetcars’ ability to revitalize urban neighborhoods.
“In years gone by, people would move to cities to get a job,” Cincinnati’s city manager, Milton Dohoney, said. “Today, young, educated workers move to cities with a sense of place. And if businesses see us laying rail down on a street, they’ll know that’s a permanent route that will have people passing by seven days a week.”
After looking into streetcar systems in Seattle, Tacoma, Wash., and Charlotte, Mr. Dohoney became convinced that they spur growth. “Cincinnati has to compete with other cities for investment,” he said. “We have to compete for talent and for place of national prominence.”
A hundred miles north, Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, has come to the same conclusion and is pushing to build a $103 million streetcar network along the city’s High Street connecting Ohio State University with the downtown business district. The loop would be paid for through a 4 percent surcharge on concert tickets, sporting events and downtown parking and a $12.5 million contribution from Ohio State.
“It is directly tied to economic development, and when times are tough in Ohio, we need an additional tool to create jobs,” Mr. Coleman said.
While critics question whether scarce city money would be better spent elsewhere, Mr. Coleman argues that streetcars are important to the city’s growth.
“We have to plan for the future,” he said. “I believe in 10 years, we would ask, ‘Why didn’t we do this?’ It will be 10 times more expensive, and the cost of gas will be unaffordable.”
Tags: Alternative Transportation, economic development, place making, transportation costs
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Charlotte, NC has also seen large investments near their new streetcar lines.
Sad to think that Windsor was once on the leading edge of transportation, and now we simply languish well behind the pack.
A solid foundation will beat a silver bullet any day. Yeah, I’m looking at you canal plan…
What do you mean “was once” on the leading edge? We still are! Read here to see that our transportation choices are strongly supported by Windsor’s community leaders poised to achieve national power!
Well I know that the city DID mention reworking the bus routes and having a serious look at how it all works. I’m happy about this as if I wanted to take a bus to work right now, I’d have to take 3 different ones and if the two bike slots are full (because I’d still have to ride to work from the last stop), I might be refused to ride because you can’t take your bike on the bus. I’d also be leaving my house an hour earlier and arriving home an hour later. And I’m going from Central to Walker & North Talbot. So, it doesn’t work for me but I would do it if it was a little more user friendly. Plus the monthly pass isn’t much of a good deal…I’d be riding 4 days a week so the pass would actually cost me more than paying individually. Things like that are silly.
While light rail is brilliant, I can’t see our city doing something like this. For one, it’s too progressive and two, everyone who’s bitching about stuff now (80% of the city) would whine about the construction and who is paying for it. Fix what we have and go from there.
Give people a reason to come downtown and throw in some low cost transportation like rickshaws and then as more people come in, work on larger plans.
I just wish they’d stop throwing all these grand ideas out there. Sure they are great but please pick something and start working on it as these are all long term.
To me, a plan to return streetcars back to Windsor is the single and most important move the city can make. A truly sustainable foundation for the city to invest in that will pay dividends for generations and beyond. Using some of those wind turbines being planted nearby as a source of power wouldn’t be a bad move either. You could potentially cross the city form the west side to the east end on electric rail for the cost of a canal.
The only issue I would have with this is that I believe that the cities who are investing and investigating into streetcars have already taken steps to revive their core residential populations.
I don’t believe that the streetcar is something that would make people move downtown as in I don’t think someone’s going to say, “I’m moving downtown so I can be next to that streetcar.” However, I think once someone moves downtown they might say, “boy, that streetcar is going to make my lifestyle here better and I’m not going to leave that lifestyle”.
I believe that once steps are taken to get people back downtown, the streetcar would be the first project to be undertaken. Just a chicken and the egg theory from me
Mark, its not a “chicken or the egg” theory. You answered it yourself when you said and individual would say “I think once someone moves downtown they might say, ‘boy, that streetcar is going to make my lifestyle here better’.
People are not moving to downtown Windsor because the higher quality of life really isn’t there. By adding the street cars and improving the quality of life, that WILL draw people. You always enjoy saying you can’t deny proven stats and tehrefore must go with them. Well, time and time again stats and studies haven proven that light rail transit gives a huge boost to development to the areas along the lines, especially residential development. Definitely not chicken or the egg to me.
As the price of gas increases as does the cost of vehicles, insurance, maintenance, time to get to work increases; I believe more and more people will want to have better transit and streetcars are the answer.
In fact with gas just below $5.00/USGallon demand for oil decreased by more than 10% in the U.S. alone. Also of note is that via rail is seeing for the first time in many years, ridership has increased 10%+ and may be adding more trains on their Windsor-T.O-Montreal route.
Let’s face it the whole car designed society is coming to an end. No, they are not going to disappear but the way we use our vehicles is going to change drastically. Especially in areas (Ontario) where high paying jobs are slowly eroding away.
The other factor that hasn’t been looked at is that people, regardless of income are now used to living on credit (read: beyond their means) and therefore any small increase to their budget will have a negative effect elswhere. I don’t believe that people, in wanting to keep up with the Jone’s, will change their purchasing habits but if a good alternative to their vehicle is available I certinaly believe people will opt to leave the car in the driveway. Sooner rather than later they will want to be close to good mass transit.
Great article Chris. Focusing on creating the foundational infrastructure within the city should be the primary goal. With the current trends of rising energy costs and the degradation of natural environment it seems that a switch to a more sustainable transport mode is inevitable. When specific choices of modes of transport are no longer feasible for people (i.e. automobiles), wouldn’t it be great to have had your local government invest in your long-term interests instead of bandaid-might-or-might-not-work solutions? What is that saying??? ‘Addressing the symptoms while ignoring the causes’
From what I recall, it seems to me that there was a Planner with the City (who has since retired) who adamantly supported the reintroduction of the streetcar. Due to administrative priorities at the time though, the Planner’s thoughts and views were ignored. From what I remember, the Planner thought the streetcar might best serve the city if it started/ended at the University on Wyandotte and the east end of Wyandotte connecting western and eastern points in the city. It is such a shame that those who are hired to bring something new and refreshing to the table are often ignored.
http://www.citywindsor.ca/001320.asp
Seeing the evidence that proves the huge economic driver that a fixed-rail system is, I find it incredible that in these days of ever-increasing fuel costs and the decline of the suburbs based upon the escalating price of automobile ownership and related infrastructure, that we couldn’t hold our municipal government liable for building a our castle in the sand like they are currently doing (I think - I haven’t seen any master plan that links all these mega-projects together)
By implementing a major, sustainable infrastructure project like a fixed rail line, we would be building an incredibly strong foundation from which our city will surely prosper. Sure, it’s not nearly as sexy as a celebrity-drawing arena, wrestling match, or venetian canal system, but making a decision like this would ensure that this council would go down in the history books as being a champion of this city.
Chris don’t forget a car race and jetting off to talk about onions with two German brothers and their start up business.
I forgot to add the 300 acre Greenlink with no money to pay for the upkeep. Yeah, like I have said for awhile now. Priorities! But I am not sure our Eddie knows what those are for the residents.
Is not that I do not fully support the streetcar concept, its only that when you see them introduced, c critical mass of population already seems to be there which then grows.
I’d betcha anything that those who have streetcars have feasibility studies that are public that show core populations in those areas and other necessary requirements to make these successful.
Instead of immediately undergoing a new feasibility study, wouldn’t it be kinda cool to FIRST review and report back on the everyone elses feasibility studies to find the common denominators. That would only cost the meagre salaries of a few good grad students.
Chris’s post is a great first step,
P.S. the article reconfirms what I always said about the first potential residents to target “young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers”
P.S. the 300 acre greenlink and Parkway create bike and pedestrian trails unmatched throughout the cities so I wouldn’t say its just about the parks
Great blog Chris and good thoughts everyone above! I am in favour of starting now into looking at LRT for Windsor, the county and even into the future, Chatham. Windsor is way behind every other city in Ontario when it comes to thinking big, is Windsor a truely existential city, in that we don’t care for our culture and heritage, nor our city ten, twenty or fifty years from now and that like the pay check on the line, we only live for next week! Green buses or whatever are only a stop gap.
LRTs would do more for this city than anyone long peeing trough for late night revellers as all the current information and knowledge that is out there.
I would like to acknowledge that my previous comments were wrong. I had assumed a streetcar would be something that accompanied residential revitalization, not caused it. I was wrong
I have started reading some Trolley Feasibility studies as there are many online.
WHAT HAS THE STREETCAR DONE FOR OTHER CITIES?
The revival of streetcar services in these cities has helped the
economic revival of their downtown areas, especially as it relates to
tourism….
.
…..While streetcar is popular with tourists, its positive impact as a
downtown revitalization tool can also be seen at many places. In
Portland, businesses along the trolley line in the downtown have
recorded increasing sales and high patronage every time the streetcar
makes a stop. As part of the City’s Growth Management Strategy, the
Portland Streetcar project was envisioned as a key downtown transit
link connecting major venues in downtown. With 81% weekday
ridership increase from summer 2001 to fall 2005, the streetcar project is considered a success in
bringing economic development to the downtown core of Portland.
The McKinney Avenue Line, which is the streetcar service in Dallas downtown began in 1989 and according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), this service has brought
cohesiveness to the Downtown district by increasing patrons to restaurants and shops. The merchants in downtown consider the service as an “important adjunct to the area”, that is a major entertainment center.
Dallas streetcar is also an integral part of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system that connects local community with various destinations in the city.
The TECO Line streetcar system in Tampa is a 2.4 mile line that connects downtown with Channelside and Ybor City. The 2005 annual report of the streetcar system that is jointly owned by City of Tampa and
Hillsborough Area Regional Authority (HART), records an average daily ridership of 1,194 and according to the Tampa Downtown Partnership, more than $800 million in new privately funded construction
projects have been completed or approved within two blocks of the streetcar line since inception. A 1/3 mile extension is being planned to connect people in the downtown area to every major downtown
parking structure.
The benefits of streetcars in other cities in the United States are similar. The streetcars have inspired and promoted economic revival, they have encouraged and attracted tourism, and they have supplemented
the existing, everyday public transit services already in operation
————————————————————————————
HOWEVER, I look at all projects this city undertakes through a singular prism.
Does this project encourage core residential densification and gentrification?
If it does, I support that project. I really don’t care anymore which particular one gets picked anymore as I find that we are in a crisis situation and its time to pull the trigger on something that reverses the decline in core residential population. I feel the one that will get picked may not necessarily be the best one, but the one with the most public support. I can live with that as long as someone picks something, somewhere and stops talking about it. SOmetimes perfect execution of the second best plan might be your best potential solution.
but “long peeing trough”, wow, I’ll bet Tulsa doesn’t call theirs by that name.
Also, the feasibility studies do talk about needing a minimum ridership level to start and that it cannot fully depend on potential increases
I feel that a streetcar line would be a much better project for the city to take on than the marina idea that is floating around. Of course both would benefit the downtown core in their own ways, but several studies show that cities with better public transit infrastructure experience a higher level of public and private investment around these routes. I recently read the results of a survey of CEO’s and it stated that they overwhelmingly responded that good public transit is a leading factor when deciding where to invest company funds.
From Boise Idaho: Training Wheels
To its passengers, the trolley will be a more pleasant means of getting from St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center near First Street to Rite Aid at 15th, which is now a significant walk, an easy bike ride or a lame drive.
But to city planners, streetcar developers in Portland, Ore., and maybe to downtown property owners, steel track means thousands of eyeballs rolling by their buildings throughout the day. Those eyeballs could become incentive to build “mixed-use development.” Like some west-side multi-story lofts with a smoke shop and deli at street level and a little sign shop on the alley…..
…..The hope is it builds momentum to get a broader public transportation system done,” he said.
Plans for Boise’s streetcar are much further along than Bieter’s State of the City address indicated. A pair of committees aided by a federal grant for a multi-modal center—a highly designed, off-street bus depot with bathrooms, bike racks and sandwiches—has already completed an initial study, which includes maps and rough costs. On Monday, the Downtown Technical Advisory Committee approved the report, prepared by Portland planner Bob Post, and handed the details over to the city and its urban renewal agency, the Capital City Development Corp. The next report ordered will be a feasibility study, with an eye to rolling out the street cars in about four or five years.
Post said Boise is one of about 80 cities, 40 of them serious players, now looking to streetcars for their development potential.
“Nobody’s claiming that it creates development where the economics wouldn’t otherwise support it,” said Post, a planner and architect who worked for Portland’s transit system a decade ago and now consults for URS Corp. URS, a global engineering and construction firm, has worked extensively in railway design, including on the Portland, Tampa, Fla. and Seattle streetcar systems…..
…City council member Elaine Clegg, who works for Idaho Smart Growth, said laying track downtown has the potential to double the capacity of urban Boise in a very efficient manner.
“It’s been discovered through experience that if that circulator is steel wheeled … then people who own land along that route realize that they can do different things with their land than they would be able to if there was just a bus running by,” Clegg said. ”
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A316471
The canal can come later..much later! A LRT system city wide would do more for development of this city than anything. And I really don’t care if the sub-urban towns are included, they don’t want our buses now because our fares are to high, so be it.
A quick look at wikipedia shows that portland ( a model transit-city ) has a population density of 4,200 / sq. mile, while Windsor’s population density is slightly better at 4,400 / sq.mile. Density is density isnt it? If they can make streetcars/LRT a go in portland and many other cities in n.america, whats stopping Windsor? I’ve heard it said that Windsor sparsly dense and doesnt have the critical mass. I dont know if i buy that anymore.
When I see budget numbers in other cities like $1.5 million/mile of rail transit line while Windsor is chasing a ditch filled with drinking water for 60mil or 100mil, or more, I hafta wonder…
Wouldn’t the greater good be acheived by lessening the burden of the almighty car on as many as possible by providing a choice of sustainable transit?
Hopefully, the developers and deep pocket types in this city can step back a little, look at the bigger picture and find a project that will last for generations rather than the build-it-up-tear-it-down business that’s going on at the moment.
They can make a go of streetcars and light rail in Portland because the metro area population is over 2.1 million people. Windsor’s metro area population was 323,000 in 2006.
Columbus, Cincinnati, Tampa, Dallas, Charlotte, and Seattle all have metro area populations that exceed well over a million people, if not 2 or 3 million. Boise, Idaho has a metro population of over 600,000 people. Let’s compare apples with oranges.
Cite me examples of American metro areas with 400,000 people less that have successful streetcar or LRT lines, and then we can have a real discussion.
You wanted an example, Vincent, heres a perfect one:
Biggest Transit Turnaround
Salt Lake City
population 178,605
The last time a rail system ran through Utah’s capital, Harry Truman was in the White House. When a modern light rail was proposed in the early 1980s, the idea wasn’t warmly received. “People said no one would use it, that folks in Utah would not give up their cars,” recalls Sierra Club organizer Marc Heileson. Opponents showed up at the 1997 ground breaking with combative banners like “You can pry my steering wheel from my cold, dead fingers.” Even supporters didn’t have very high hopes, projecting that the system would draw only 22,000 daily riders by 2020.
Environmentalists, transit officials, and city boosters secured federal funds that allowed the first Trax line to open in December 1999 despite the opposition. Now the 19-mile system is drawing more than 58,000 riders a day–and changing the city’s pattern of development from auto-dependent sprawl to denser mixed-use neighborhoods. More people than ever live downtown. “Areas that are near a Trax stop are now more valuable to develop, not less,” says Heileson, who wants to see the system expand into the still-sprawling suburbs. If they build it, people will likely come: Forty-four percent of Trax’s initial riders were new to mass transit. “That means almost half of those people got out of their cars and jumped on the train,” says Heileson. “If you can do that in Salt Lake City, you can do it anywhere.”
- http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200607/ideas.asp
How About Kenosha, Wisconsin?
Affordable, workable light rail transit (LRT) in an American city of less than one million population? How about less than 100,000 population?
That seems to be precisely the case with the new light rail streetcar system in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a small city of about 90,000 population. Located along the shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosha lies a short distance north of the illinois-Wisconsin border, and about 70 miles (113 km) northwest of Chicago. Since 2000, Kenosha Transit has operated a 1.7-mile (2.7-km) streetcar loop designed to connect the local Metra regional passenger rail (”commuter rail”) station to downtown attractions, a transit center, and the new 64-acre Harborpark residential development situated on the Lake Michigan shore.
Can we start talking about this yet?
Forgot a couple - Galveston, Texas. Population 57,466 (2005 census)
I also forgot Little Rock, Arkansas - Pop 187,452 2007 census, which has seen so much success with their streetcar, that they are expanding it to the rest of the motropolitan area. (http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_lr_2006-02a.htm)
Yes Chris !! We should definitely start talking about this!
Perhaps even set up a special header for this topic at scaledown…..
I tend think that, in these times, public transit is the single most important form of investment a community can make. We already see a plan for light rail transit in the city of Hamilton with some real gov’t funding behind it. Yet Windsor seemingly can’t raise the issue for a mere public debate. If leadership is failing us then we need to see this issue come from the citizens!! Hopefully in the very near future we can discuss publicly the concepts of sustainable transportation in Windsor. A few hybrids is a nice thought but falls way short of a system that will sustain itself over the long haul.
So they’re pulling up 2 rail lines and leaving just one..!?? Has there been any public input on this?…
What a real shame that there isnt a public discussion on the re-uses for these potential right-of-ways. There must be something in the water that promotes this apathay.
One step at a time.
First, we need to convince the Federal government that rail consolidation will not impact rail operations and will reduce costs. Then, the federal government has to tell CP, CN and VIA (especially CN) that this is how it is going to be. Then you do the environmental assessment. Then you figure out the future plans.