Downtown Tucsonan - November 2008 - (Page 6)

vital signs S t e e r i n g T h e S t r e e t c a r with sHELLIE GInn by Lee Allen t’s shellie Ginn’s goal, as Mistress of ceremonies for tucson’s modern streetcar project, to bring transit to the city center via a people mover that prices out at $25 million a mile. the Modern streetcars in the old Pueblo project brochure terms the effort, “Progressive transit for tucson.” “this is a fun project and I’m enjoying working on it. when opportunities arise, I take them,” says the native-born tucsonan who has been steering the streetcar development since 2004 as Project Manager within the city of tucson department of transportation. “when we began, we conducted an alternative analysis, a long community-involved process to determine project goals toward some type of transit alternative. we looked at the options and the routes that made the most sense to connect the activity centers in the downtown area. we worked closely with all aspects of the community and that’s been helpful in now working with the Federal transportation agency. showing community support makes the Fta more agreeable to funding endeavors like this when they know the community is behind the project.” and that’s a good thing because $75 million in Fta funding is riding on it. “we submitted our documentation earlier this year to get approval to enter into project development, an actual construction grant agreement. we feel we’ve met all criteria and anticipate approval very soon.” the Fta funding gets added to similar local funding received from the Regional transportation authority in 2006 approximately $140 million for the total project. “old Pueblo trolley can take credit for introducing tucson to the historic-based trolley which helped show that rail is a popular way to ride,” she says. “we’ve got a lot of people, especially in the downtown area, that are quite interested in this type of system, so support is overwhelming in the center of the city. It might not work well for the entire city, but it should work great downtown.” the route covers an area approximately four miles by four miles from university Medical center at Helen and campbell through the Main Gate business district on to the Fourth avenue commercial district, winding by the tucson community center and arena, and west of the downtown area under Interstate-10 via cushing street. “It will take less than half an hour to get from the farthest east to the farthest west,” she says, noting that the seven streetcars in the fleet will move quickly and frequently, arriving approximately every ten minutes (maximum streetcar operating speed is 43 miles an hour). system characteristics of a modern streetcar show it operating in mixed traffic at street i level with simple stop stations (no bigger than a bus stop) located approximately every one fifth of a mile. Per vehicle passenger capacity for the 66 foot long units is 127 one quarter of which (35) get to sit while the other 92 will grab a strap and look like models in an Mta commercial. the streetcars will be designed to accommodate bicycles and wheelchairs. Given the go-ahead by Mayor and council in 2006 and again in 2007, voters also approved the system last year as part of the Regional transportation authority’s transportation improvement plan to phase in over the next two decades. Rta’s financial contribution will be partly funded through a half-cent sales tax, also approved by voters. the streetcar is not viewed as a money maker. “these types of systems never pay for themselves totally with revenue service,” Ginn says. “Probably what sun tran is charging is what we’ll charge as well and the revenue service will probably be equivalent to what sun tran brings back, which is 20-25 percent of the cost. this will impact transit-oriented development however, and the tax-based funding that will come in when the track goes down. that’s what Portland saw, as did tacoma and seattle. we have a lot of developers looking at the track alignment and deciding how they want to take advantage of having a streetcar close to any of their developments. that’s where additional tax revenue will be generated that goes back to the taxpayers. “the streetcar isn’t a magic bullet that will save tucson in and of itself, but as one of the many projects occurring, it will provide a much better alternative for folks to use when they’re looking to get out of their cars and transfer throughout the downtown area for work, play, evening events, sports. It will provide a much better way to park one time and be able to run up and down the alignment shop, eat, go to an event and get back to your vehicle quickly.” when she visited tucson last spring, federal transportation secretary Mary Peters (who, as a Phoenix native, knows what congested downtown traffic is like) said tucson was headed in the right direction in solving its transportation needs and that the addition of the streetcar would help solve some of the congestion. In the days to come, the modern streetcar will have a chance to prove that statement. 6 downtown tucsonan.november.08

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Downtown Tucsonan - November 2008

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