danwxman
Jan 24, 2007, 6:31 AM
City desires streetcar line to Long's Park
Tracks eyed downtown and beyond. Grants sought.
By BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster New Era
Published: Jan 23, 2007 10:24 AM EST
LANCASTER - Call it back to Lancaster’s future.
Lancaster City officials are looking to their 19th century past to address transportation needs for the 21st century.
Within the next three to four months, the city will apply for federal and state funds to construct a seven-mile streetcar line that would include a downtown loop and a leg northwest to Long’s Park.
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray believes the proposed $22.5 million streetcar line will help relieve downtown traffic congestion, fuel existing development in the city center and play an integral role in the redevelopment of the open industrial land vacated by Armstrong World Industries.
“It has definite advantages, if we can figure out the funding,” Gray said.
“It has the ability to shrink the city and make the city more walkable, so people won’t need a car to get around,” the mayor said.
Streetcar plans were recently put on the fast track. Planners learned last month that Lancaster has a good chance of receiving as much as 80 percent of the funding from a Federal Transit Administration program, but the city must act fast.
Gary Landrio, vice president of rail operations of Warren, Pa.-based Stone Consulting, said Thursday the city will have its best chance of funding if it applies by March.
Under an $18,000 contract with the city, Landrio is preparing Lancaster’s application for the federal “Very Small Starts” program. The streamlined program is designed for small- to medium-sized cities to develop rail systems, he said.
Landrio is also developing program applications for Kenosha, Wis., and Savannah, Ga.
Gray said the city is seeking the remaining funds for the system, about $5.6 million, from the state and local private sources.
Jack Howell, president of the city revitalization group The Lancaster Campaign, said a request for the streetcar funds has already been inserted in Gov. Ed Rendell’s capital budget.
A ridership survey by a steering committee of the Lancaster Alliance’s Economic Development Action Group will soon begin to determine if people would actually ride the streetcars. Data from the survey will be used for the grant application.
The proposal being submitted to the Federal Transit Administration is significantly larger than a downtown “circulator” route studied last year by the Red Rose Transit Authority.
That line — now with the spur to Long’s Park — would run north-south along Queen and Prince streets, from the city Amtrak station to Southern Market Center, at South Queen and Vine streets.
The Long’s Park leg of the line — originally conceived as a later phase — was added to qualify the project for the federal funding.
The federal transit program requires the per-track-mile cost to be less than $3 million, Landrio said.
The start-up cost of the downtown circulator streetcar line — projected at $14 million in the earlier study — would exceed the per-mile limit.
By enlarging the project and pushing the line to Long’s Park, the per-mile cost for the entire line drops significantly. That is because much of the land where the western leg of the line would be constructed is open.
Armstrong World Industries sold the 46 acres of land last year to the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County, which will redevelop it for Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General Hospital.
The proposed streetcar line would run from the north edge of Clipper Magazine Stadium, northwest along the existing railroad tracks, and curve to the southwest after passing behind the R.R. Donnelley facility. The terminus would be along Harrisburg Avenue at Long’s Park.
Gray said he would like to see the western line start downtown and travel the length of the city’s northwest linear park — a former railroad bed — before reaching the railroad tracks to the west of the stadium.
The exact route, along with other details, such as stops and the cost to ride the streetcars, will be determined as the plans are further developed, Landrio said.
The ridership survey will attempt to determine whether people would actually ride the streetcars.
Although streetcars may ultimately carry travelers between the downtown convention center that is now under construction and the train station, Howell is adamant that the streetcar line is not intended for them. It will be built for use by local residents, he said.
Most people surveyed will not be familiar with local streetcars. It has been more than a half-century since streetcars traveled through Lancaster.
The aged electric cars were replaced by buses, and the tracks were ripped up.
Reintroduced streetcars would be somewhat different, Howell said. Although the technology is basically the same, the modern versions are heated, air-conditioned, quieter and faster.
They would travel in the driving lanes but at nearly the posted 25 mph speed limit of traffic.0
# CONTACT US: bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022
Tracks eyed downtown and beyond. Grants sought.
By BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster New Era
Published: Jan 23, 2007 10:24 AM EST
LANCASTER - Call it back to Lancaster’s future.
Lancaster City officials are looking to their 19th century past to address transportation needs for the 21st century.
Within the next three to four months, the city will apply for federal and state funds to construct a seven-mile streetcar line that would include a downtown loop and a leg northwest to Long’s Park.
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray believes the proposed $22.5 million streetcar line will help relieve downtown traffic congestion, fuel existing development in the city center and play an integral role in the redevelopment of the open industrial land vacated by Armstrong World Industries.
“It has definite advantages, if we can figure out the funding,” Gray said.
“It has the ability to shrink the city and make the city more walkable, so people won’t need a car to get around,” the mayor said.
Streetcar plans were recently put on the fast track. Planners learned last month that Lancaster has a good chance of receiving as much as 80 percent of the funding from a Federal Transit Administration program, but the city must act fast.
Gary Landrio, vice president of rail operations of Warren, Pa.-based Stone Consulting, said Thursday the city will have its best chance of funding if it applies by March.
Under an $18,000 contract with the city, Landrio is preparing Lancaster’s application for the federal “Very Small Starts” program. The streamlined program is designed for small- to medium-sized cities to develop rail systems, he said.
Landrio is also developing program applications for Kenosha, Wis., and Savannah, Ga.
Gray said the city is seeking the remaining funds for the system, about $5.6 million, from the state and local private sources.
Jack Howell, president of the city revitalization group The Lancaster Campaign, said a request for the streetcar funds has already been inserted in Gov. Ed Rendell’s capital budget.
A ridership survey by a steering committee of the Lancaster Alliance’s Economic Development Action Group will soon begin to determine if people would actually ride the streetcars. Data from the survey will be used for the grant application.
The proposal being submitted to the Federal Transit Administration is significantly larger than a downtown “circulator” route studied last year by the Red Rose Transit Authority.
That line — now with the spur to Long’s Park — would run north-south along Queen and Prince streets, from the city Amtrak station to Southern Market Center, at South Queen and Vine streets.
The Long’s Park leg of the line — originally conceived as a later phase — was added to qualify the project for the federal funding.
The federal transit program requires the per-track-mile cost to be less than $3 million, Landrio said.
The start-up cost of the downtown circulator streetcar line — projected at $14 million in the earlier study — would exceed the per-mile limit.
By enlarging the project and pushing the line to Long’s Park, the per-mile cost for the entire line drops significantly. That is because much of the land where the western leg of the line would be constructed is open.
Armstrong World Industries sold the 46 acres of land last year to the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County, which will redevelop it for Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General Hospital.
The proposed streetcar line would run from the north edge of Clipper Magazine Stadium, northwest along the existing railroad tracks, and curve to the southwest after passing behind the R.R. Donnelley facility. The terminus would be along Harrisburg Avenue at Long’s Park.
Gray said he would like to see the western line start downtown and travel the length of the city’s northwest linear park — a former railroad bed — before reaching the railroad tracks to the west of the stadium.
The exact route, along with other details, such as stops and the cost to ride the streetcars, will be determined as the plans are further developed, Landrio said.
The ridership survey will attempt to determine whether people would actually ride the streetcars.
Although streetcars may ultimately carry travelers between the downtown convention center that is now under construction and the train station, Howell is adamant that the streetcar line is not intended for them. It will be built for use by local residents, he said.
Most people surveyed will not be familiar with local streetcars. It has been more than a half-century since streetcars traveled through Lancaster.
The aged electric cars were replaced by buses, and the tracks were ripped up.
Reintroduced streetcars would be somewhat different, Howell said. Although the technology is basically the same, the modern versions are heated, air-conditioned, quieter and faster.
They would travel in the driving lanes but at nearly the posted 25 mph speed limit of traffic.0
# CONTACT US: bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022