Streetcar

With available funding from U.S. Tiger grant, Los Angeles has big hopes for its downtown which include a streetcar line that would go from north to south. Critics say the line is redundant of other existing transit.

In Cincinnati, voters have defeated an attempt to block the city's new streetcar, which now will move forward and could be operational as early as 2013. The new streetcar will link downtown and the uptown district around the University.

VIA Metropolitan Transit Company met with the city council regarding future plans involving a new streetcar line. According to Vianna Davila, "VIA must drastically change its streetcar proposal if it wants the city to help pay for the project."

Despite major resistance for an extended streetcar line, a shorter, 2-mile downtown light rail is quite popular. Supporters say there is a sense of "urgency" behind the project, which could be built as soon as 2015.

City officials in Fort Worth, Texas, have backed out of plans to build a streetcar downtown.

Rejected entirely last February for federal funding, planners made two important changes: Scaled down the project considerably, and scaled-up the city's contribution - which says little as their prior contribution had been zero!

It's needed, it's not that expensive, and it's doable. But there's one little problem in New Haven's new streetcar plan.

Many things came together for light rail to come to Charlotte, starting in 1996. Key was perseverance by a conservative mayor, a volunteer group that started a historic trolley, voters who supported a sales tax, and experienced transit professionals

Daniel Jacobson, an undergrad at Stanford, developed a thorough study recommending everything the City of Oakland would need to build, run and finance a streetcar through its downtown.

Washington D.C.'s planned 37-mile streetcar system will be a boon to nearby businesses, according to a recent report. As a result, the mayor is pushing a plan that would ask commercial property owners to help fund the system.

Austin's Capital MetroRail Red Line opens today after two years of delay and budget overruns. Intended as a showcase line, Yonah Freemark claims the line will see very few riders.

Officials in Atlanta are pushing forward with plans to build a streetcar, despite being left out of a recent federal stimulus-led package of transportation grants.

Residents and visitors to downtown Portland have long enjoyed taking buses, LRT, and streetcar within a perimeter known as Fareless Square at no cost. While the MAX and streetcar will remain 'fareless', the bus will cost you. New name: Free Rail Zone

Portland, Oregon sees the revival of building styles not seen since the last time streetcars rolled through the city.

A nonprofit organization is promoting the idea of closing Manhattan's 42nd St. to traffic and putting in a 2.5 mile street level light rail line.