Matthew Ridgeway wonders if the infrastructure benefits of new streetcar projects- facade improvement, streetscaping, community investment- could happen with direct investment, leaving streetcars out of the picture.
"The streetcar is once again becoming a key tool for economic development, this time to spur redevelopment of central city areas in transition. Examples of streetcar systems in the US include: Portland, Oklahoma City, and San Francisco. Each of these streetcar systems has resulted in major private-sector investment in the adjacent properties with windfalls to local jurisdictions resulting from increased property values, sales taxes, and job creation.
And yet in this go-round, the streetcar has not fundamentally changed access to an area. Where the streetcars of the early 1900's provided access to areas otherwise inaccessible, the current streetcar systems provide additional capacity to move people, but only nominally so and often at the expense of auto capacity. And the streetcars are often very slow. I have walked from Portland State University to the Pearl District staying ahead of the streetcar the entire mile-plus distance. So while we are infatuated with the streetcar (what is it about trains that gets people so excited?), is it really the streetcar that facilitates change and economic development? Or is it simply government investment?"
Read the full story: Economic Stimulus that Improves Main Street
Streetcars and Recovery
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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The road design trend that's killing Americans
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority