El Paso Streetcars Likely to be Approved This Week (Houston: sales, 2013)

[Chuco]

It looks like after stalling for almost two years, the El Paso downtown streetcar project might finally be rolling again. The project might be approved by the Texas Transportation Commission during their meeting this Thursday.

"Construction of a $97 million Downtown trolley project is likely to start in August.

Ted Houghton, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, on Tuesday said that when the commission meets in Houston on Thursday, they will vote on whether to put up the money for the multi-million trolley project as part of $2.2 billion in projects statewide."

Houghton said the commission is likely to approve the plan, which includes almost $200 million for other "multi-modal" projects in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.

"If the trolley project is approved, ground could be broken in August and it could be completed in three years, Houghton said. It would run north from the bottom of Stanton Street near Downtown up to the University of Texas at El Paso, loop the campus and run back south on Oregon Street."

El Paso trolley project enjoys broad support; work could start in August - El Paso Times

There's six of these trolleys out in the desert currently, but it looks like they will get renovated and back up and running within the next few years.




How they used to look like:

[atrabilius]

I guess "the bottom of Stanton Street" is the Stanton Street Bridge. Okay.

Looks like those streetcars (at least some of them) will need a lot of work to get running again.

Hope this project does well and can expand (like to the Chamizal National Memorial). Eventually I'd like to see commuter rail lines going further out to the West, East, and Northeast Sides and the Lower Valley, which would probably have to be something more modern if they ever do that.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Don't you just love it... they ripped these out years ago in the name of "progress", so are they regressing now, or progressing? It's hard to know. Do you think they will want to bring back the nostalgia of the old buildings that were recently torn down, in the future? The city needs a vision. Now they will spend millions to put back what they ripped out years ago.

That said, I think it's cool. Hopefully they will stop by the new stadium, this way people could park away and ride the trolley, or cars... I mean if the tracks are in, why not put in metro cars on them too? I used to like to see those when I was a kid, I remember all the sparks.

[Chuco]

Just an update on this story, this project has been approved today by the state and it now gives the city the green light to get the streetcars back up and running. They are saying that construction should start as early as August and should take about 3 years to finish.

[katzpaw]

I love PCC streetcars but welcomed the comforts of the newer cars (air conditioning!) when they were replaced in Toronto.
I'd expect the renovations to go over budget as well as the ongoing maintenance costs for the cars, wires, and track. I hope air conditioning can be installed - but that would mean non-opening windows.

The proposed track skirts downtown and doesn't go down "shopping" streets.
It's a clockwise loop from UTEP south on Stanton to Franklin (just south of I-10), then south on Kansas, across on Father Rahm (1 block from the border), and back north on Santa Fe to Franklin (turn at the stadium) then north on Oregon. Is Oregon less steep than Stanton?

map: El Paso Development News: Council Chooses Streetcar Route

[XChucoresident]

IF they really do come back...then I would surely ride one...my mother never let me get on them...when I was a kid...

[banal]

Should just buy new trolleys instead of renovating those hideous pieces of junk.

[Chuco]

This article in the El Paso Inc website states that only one of the PCC trolleys will be restored, while the rest of the trolleys will be replicas.

Streetcars still waiting for state money - El Paso Inc.: Local News

Six of El Paso’s historic streetcars, saved by the Paso del Norte Streetcar Preservation Society in 1985, are now rusting in the desert at El Paso International Airport.

Called PCC streetcars, the vintage cars are considered the most desirable of the 20th century and are famous for their reliability and Art Deco-styling.

Plans call for one of the old streetcars at the airport to be restored and put back into use, according to Shang. The city will also purchase replica streetcars.
“It’s more cost effective,” she said of the replicas.

Operating and maintaining the system is estimated to cost $2.5 million a year, she said, but the cost will be offset by fare revenue, increases in sales tax revenues and the elimination of redundant circulator bus routes in Downtown.
“We will be able to absorb all the costs,” she said.
An El Paso Rail Transit study published in November 2010 by Cambridge Systematics estimates the economic development impact could be as high as $1 billion.

I also read in another article a while back that all six of the old streetcars will be restored eventually, but that most of the streetcars running in downtown will be replicas with all the modern amenities of new streetcars.

[Bron_Brodir]

I am all for it, bring back the History of El Paso, it will also draw in tourist.