It’s been almost exactly 50 years since the last streetcars weaved their way through Washington, D.C., but plans are in place to resurrect the streetcar in the nation’s capital. In the process, the city looks to capture the economic activity that was lost when the streetcar was dismantled.

Despite project delays, streetcar tracks have been laid for the first phase of the project and the streetcar is expected to be up and running in the summer of 2013.

On the local BeyondDC blog, Dan Malouff provides a rundown of the economic impacts the study says the completed streetcar system would have on the city.

[T]he great benefit of streetcars will be that they tremendously expand the number of households and business properties that are within walking distance of a rail station. With streetcars, the share of DC residents within a quarter mile of a rail stop will increase from today’s 16% up to 50%.

That will correspond to an increase in the value of properties along streetcar lines by $5-7 billion. Another $5-8 billion in new development can be expected, resulting in a total property value increase of $10-15 billion due to streetcars.

That would result in $238-291 million in new tax revenue for the city each year, after completion of the 37 mile streetcar network. At that rate it would take only 6 years for the city to recuperate the full $1.5 billion cost. After 6 years, the tax revenues would be pure profit.

And over a 10 year period, the streetcar system would be responsible for 6,300-7,700 new jobs, up to 12,000 new households, and as much as 1.3 million square feet of new retail development.

Impressive.

Not bad for an old-fashioned transportation system.

smartplanet, 02.02.12.

The report also mentions the complications inherent to bicycle-streetcar coexistence. It notes that quality bike infrastructure will be necessary along streetcar corridors in order to minimize conflict.

Streetcars + cycle infrastructure. 
Our nation’s capitol is gonna get an upgrade. 

In 1948 they proposed a plan to convert all the streetcars to buses. They placed a advertisement in the local papers explaining their plan to ‘modernize’ and ‘motorize’ Line 14. Oakland city council opposed the plan by 5-3. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) supported the plan which included large fare increases. The October 1948 700 people signed a petition with the PUC “against the Key System, seeking restoration of the bus service on the #70 Chabot Bus line”. The councils of Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro State opposed the removal of street cars. The traffic planners supported removal of the streetcar lines to facilitate movement of automobiles. Local governments in the East Bay attempted to purchase the Key System, but were unsuccessful.

Streetcars were converted to buses during November/December 1948.

Sad times.
And now it’s lots and lots of hard work to put streetcars back on streets, on new tracks. 
New, modernized American-made streetcars. 

Thanks to a small transformation in federal transportation policy since Obama took office, cities around the nation are looking at the real possibility of creating new streetcar lines within the next year or two.

In a series of momentous moves, the Obama Administration has made it easier for cities to start or expand streetcar lines. The crux of the changes come from the understanding that streetcars are not just about saving people time, they are also highly useful in building an attractive urban landscape, stimulating and channeling investment and growth into the urban core and into other specifically targeted areas of the city, and attracting non-transit riders to efficient mass transit.

cleantechnica, 17.04.10.

Yesss thank you, Prez.
Been time enough to catch up with Europe, where streetcars are common across many countries, even in not-so-dense medium-sized cities.

Most European cities I’ve been to have streetcars operating.
Streetcars/trams all over Deutschland: Magdeburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Düsseldorf (tram/u-bahn), Hamburg (maybe, I forget).
Amsterdam, Brussels, Helsinki, Milan, Zürich, .. plus a bunch of places I’ve yet to visit that’re moved to my second euro-trip list. 

Today the LA Streetcar released the findings from its economic impact report, and the results are excellent.  The study by AECOM projects the 4.75 mile streetcar loop will induce $1.1 billion in economic development to Downtown LA by 2035, including 9,300 new jobs, 2,600 new housing units, $24.5 million in annual spending, $47 million in annual city revenue, and 7,200 construction jobs (versus a baseline growth alternative).  The results are no surprise, judging by the tremendous economic benefits in Portland and Seattle.  What’s most interesting about this study, however, is that it separates and directly quantifies the additional benefits that a streetcar will bring to Downtown LA—something that the Oakland Streetcar Plan could not do.

route map (pdf) and more resources here.

Stanford University undergraduate Daniel Jacobson is interested in pursuing a career in transportation planning and urban design, and I think it’s safe to say he’s off to a real good start.

The 20-year-old native of Point Richmond spent nine months of independent study producing a detailed and ingenious plan to revive Oakland’s economy: build a 2.5-mile streetcar line that runs through the heart of the city, connecting Piedmont to Jack London Square.

The plan would create up to 24,000 jobs, housing opportunities for an equal number of new residents and breathe life back into downtown Oakland.

sfgate, 11.06.2010.

This guy is my age. 
This marvelous streetcar plan he did:
It’s the sort of stuff I want to do. 

and I guess this shows the difference between Stanford students and UCSD (or any other UC) students.