At critical points, Dallas' streetcar system runs without overhead cables. Two batteries underneath the car store enough power to propel the train across a mile-long bridge.
Dallas has joined Guangzhou, China as one of the only cities with a "wireless" battery-powered streetcar. Bill Zeeble reports, "Unlike almost every street car in the world – from San Francisco to Strasbourg, France – this one lacks a pole constantly connected to a live wire overhead."
The hybrid system lets the train cross the Houston Street Viaduct, a bridge with some special requirements. "'That bridge is approximately a mile long,' says Mark Ball, a DART spokesperson. 'And obviously we could not build a street car system with overhead wire on a historic structure. So we had to come up with a way to self-propel or push something across that bridge.'"
Detroit and Washington D.C., among others, are interested in hybrid streetcars. Art Guzzetti of the American Public Transportation Association commented: "The wires sometimes interfere with the city. They interfere with the vistas. They interfere with historic preservation issues. They're not a problem in some places but in some certain parts of the city, you don't want wires overhead."
FULL STORY: Dallas Has Something Many Other Cities Want: A Hybrid Streetcar
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions