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Portland’s Next Streetcar
The Portland Streetcar Board had the opportunity to tour the work on our prototype “made in America” vehicle at Oregon Iron Works on Wednesday.
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Should Streetcars Run on the Transit Mall?
Are streetcars a better fit for the transit mall than light rail trains? Streetcars are smaller, slower and more appropriate for downtown, frequent-stop, circulator service. They would be safer than long light rail trains, intermixed with buses and private vehicles, which will also run on the mall when it reopens. The current plan is to…
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Portland Streetcar Loop Environmental Assessment Available
Metro has posted the Environmental Assessment documents for the proposed Eastside Loop Streetcar expansion. http://www.metro-region.org/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=13800 A public comment period is now in process: “A 30-day public comment period began with the release of the environmental assessment Feb. 8, 2008. All comments must be received by 5 p.m. Thursday, March 10, 2008.” Check out the Metro…
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How the Feds Mess with Transit Projects
Here’s a great article from the Pioneer Press in Minneapolis/St. Paul that talks about how the FTA calculates a Cost Effectiveness Index for transit projects. The Streetcar Loop is going through the same process and is subject to the same 23.99 magic number. Our problem is that every time we submit data that gets us…
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Breaking News: Streetcar Loop in President’s Budget
Apparently the OMB relented – the Portland Streetcar Loop appears in the President’s budget as a $50M line item (the remaining $25M would be in the following year’s budget). Avoiding a Congressional battle to get this funding means the project can get started that much sooner!