Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Streetcars

Curtains for St. Louis’ Delmar Loop Trolley Plans?

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 11, 2014 | No Comments

For years, St. Louis and adjacent University City have been planning a 2.2-mile streetcar that would connect the thriving Delmar Loop business district to the museums in nearby Forest Park. In 2010, the plan won a competitive $22 million federal “Urban Circulator” grant. That funding, along with a 1 percent sales tax increase approved by area […]

How Should Streetcars and Bikes Interact?

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 3, 2014 | 31 Comments

Streetcar service could finally begin this year in Washington, DC. Trial runs are already taking place. And the debate about how people on bikes will navigate the tracks is already raging. Last week, the District Department of Transportation quietly proposed streetcar regulations that would ban bicycling within a streetcar guideway except to cross the street. Most immediately, […]

San Antonio Abandons Streetcar Plans. What’s Next?

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 1, 2014 | 5 Comments

While Tucson’s new downtown streetcar system enjoyed a successful debut weekend with an estimated 60,000 trips, San Antonio was busy scuttling its streetcar plans. Proponents viewed the 5.9-mile, $280 million streetcar project as an economic development tool, with a projected $1.8 billion impact on downtown. The Texas Department of Transportation and San Antonio transit agency VIA had […]

Talking Headways Podcast: Hug This Streetcar

By Tanya Snyder | Feb 20, 2014 | 17 Comments

Jeff Wood of the Overhead Wire (now working with NRDC’s crack transportation team) and I talk to Randy Simes in this week’s podcast about the streetcar movement in Cincinnati — and how they finally grabbed the long-elusive gold ring. Then Randy stayed with us to discuss the false choice between transit that’s useful and transit […]

Cincinnati Mayor Offers Last-Minute Plan to Save the Streetcar

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 12, 2013 | 6 Comments

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, who campaigned on the idea of killing the city’s under-construction streetcar, announced today he will allow the project to continue if operating costs can be funded through fares, advertising and private donations for the first 30 years. That’s the report from the Cincinnati Business Courier following the mayor’s big announcement this […]

Talking Headways Podcast: Get Off My Lawn

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 12, 2013 | 3 Comments

Jeff Wood and I talk about the news of the week that most tickled us or burned us — the BBC’s exposé of anti-social urban design features intended to repel people, San Francisco’s social tensions over the Google bus, and the decision by Cincinnati’s new mayor and City Council to “pause” construction of the streetcar. […]

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