DC H St Streetcar Line Opens February 27, 2016

[Vaperson]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-streetcar-project-could-be-abandoned/2015/03/06/3b1e712a-c424-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html

Per the Washington Post, the acting director of DC DOT said they were looking into potential changes for the H Street streetcar line but could not rule out that it might need to be scrapped.

 

[Eric S]

To those who have been following this project closely, are there specific issues with the H Street streetcar that make it decidedly more complex than other recent streetcar projects (recently opened in Atlanta, Portland, Seattle, Tucson, and under construction in Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, probably others I'm forgetting), or is this just more of an issue of sheer incompetence on the part of DDOT/contractors/whoever?

 

[Ryan]

Essentially the latter.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Agreed. unfortunately.

Along with Arlington County giving the Columbia Pike streetcar the ax, which pretty much killed the Crystal City line too, plus Maryland's new governor threatening to do the same with the Purple Line, its beginning to feel a lot like Indiana in these parts. :blink:

 

[afigg]

WAMU article on the remaining issues with the FTA to be resolved before the H St streetcar can start operation: For D.C. Streetcar Line, 2.2 Miles' Worth Of Questions Remain. Competence at DDOT, especially during the Grey administration, is clearly the major stumbling block. The 7 remaining recommendations to be closed out are almost all documentation, training, and procedural. No reason they can't be resolved.

Mayor Bowser is not coming across as an enthusiastic supporter of building out the proposed street car system. I guess to her, (overcrowded) buses are good enough. So the H St streetcar segment may be it for the next 4 years, while Bowser's DDOT slow walks studies. But DC really should move ahead and turn the construction and operation of the streetcar to a private company as has been the plan for years under a design, build, operate for 30 years contract.

We will find out in May whether Gov. Hogan will delay or kill the Purple Line project. I think, given the pushback against any cancellation or delay from the business community and Hogan's fellow developers along with the public outcry, that Hogan will go ahead with the Purple Line over a show of cost cutting efforts. The cost to the MD state government to build the Purple line is only in the range of $400 to $700 million with approx $1.8 billion lined up in federal, local and private operator funding. Would be stupid to throw that away. Well, so long as Hogan is not as short sighted and ambitious as Gov. Christie in NJ.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 of the Silver Line is under construction, the Crystal City - Potomac Yards transitway BRT is completing the northern end, the Potomac yards infill Metro station will be built in the next 3-4 years, Montgomery county is moving ahead on its planned BRT system to act as a local transit system and feeder to the Metro. So it is not all bleak for transit expansion in the DC metro area. The Purple Line, though is critical to establishing a light rail component for future expansion of rail transit along routes where running heavy rail is not cost effective.

 

[afigg]

Mayor Browser has made a commitment to extending the H St street car line to run from Benning Road to Georgetown. GGW blog: Muriel Bowser promises to finish the DC streetcar from Georgetown to Ward 7. The plans are for a long segment of the route along K St to be in a dedicated transitway; a key question will be can DDOT build more of the route in a transitway along K Street and, in my opinion, the remainder of H St, west of the Hopscotch bridge? Of course, the second key question is whether the city can put people in charge of the project who know what they are doing?

 

[user 1215]

January 2016 and still not open.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Its Washington so this is fitting.

 

[afigg]

The H Street streetcar is no longer in indefinite delay. It is to start service on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Then it will shut down for a day because the streetcar will start with no service on Sundays. Good that it will finally be running, but DCDOT (mostly under Mayor Gray) so poorly managed the project that I fear plans to extend the line along K street to Georgetown and east across the Anacostia will be stalled in study phases for a long time. At least, the Maryland Purple Line light rail project is expected to announce the contract award soon.

WAMU: Long-Awaited D.C. Streetcar To Start Passenger Service On Feb. 27 (No, Really).

After years of delays and millions of dollars in cost overruns, the long-awaited streetcar along H Street and Benning Road NE will start carrying passengers on Saturday, Feb. 27.

No, really.

Mayor Muriel Bowser made the announcement on Thursday, only a week after a long-delayed safety certification for the $200 million, 2.2-mile streetcar line — the first to run in D.C. since 1962 — was completed.

Greater Greater Washington blog take on the news with a lot of comments: H Street streetcar will carry passengers on February 27.

 

[jebr]

No running on Sundays? Seriously? This is DC we're talking about, not some small town transit system.

 

[Ryan]

They don't have enough vehicles, they require all 5 of them for service, so they need a maintenance day.

As you said, "this is DC we're talking about".

 

[Acela150]

Did it run?? I was in DC on the 27th and they had signs at Union Station that rides were free that day, but I didn't get a chance to go for a ride.

 

[Ryan]

It did. Rides will be free for a while, at the moment there is no way to client fares. They didn't get around to figuring that part out yet.

 

[Acela150]

It did. Rides will be free for a while, at the moment there is no way to client fares. They didn't get around to figuring that part out yet.

 

[afigg]

Did it run?? I was in DC on the 27th and they had signs at Union Station that rides were free that day, but I didn't get a chance to go for a ride.

The Greater Greater Washington blog posted a report on the opening day festivities with photos: DC Streetcar's exuberant opening day, in photos and video.

Now we shall see if the politicians are serious about extending the line east across the river and west to Georgetown via K Street. And whether DC DOT and the politicians will be willing to fight to build most of the extended route in dedicated transitway lanes which is vital to having a successful and heavily used streetcar line.