The Tacoma Street car system I mentioned has taken a step forward with the completion of a feasibility study.
An advisory committee that included officials from Pierce Transit and Sound Transit has identified three possible beginning routes:
• Sixth Avenue Line – Beginning where the Link light rail ends on Commerce Street, it would climb up the hill and connect to the east end of the city’s burgeoning restaurant row.
• Downtown Line – A serpentine line crisscrossing north and south through the core of downtown, possibly with one east-west connector going up and down the hill along South 11th Street.
• Portland Line – Beginning where the Link light rail ends on East 25th Street, it would run along Portland Avenue toward the new Salishan neighborhood on Tacoma’s East Side.
The News Tribune has a nice pdf of the possible alignments.
Good for them, that is great. The only thing I reccommend is Streetcar is not the only mode of transportation. Portland is really on a streetcar kick too. It looks like Tacoma will be more circular around the city. Portland has planned for many new lines. It is nice I just hope that Tacoma doesn’t forget about the buses and other modes as well.
I wish the Seattle lines were ready. I can’t wait for the SLU Streetcar. I am not sure the vintage waterfront will ever come back, but if it were to, it would be nice!
I waterfront car will be back whenever they get a maintenance facility.
I’m glad to see that cities are wanting to rebuild their streetcar networks.
Looking at the regional picture, Streetcars in Seattle and Tacoma provide for good internal circulation while LINK would be the Regional Connector, working with SOUNDER. 1 Streetcar line by itself is not good, but if they were withing a system that was part of a larger network, they could work very well. Same with Trolleybuses and Rapid Buses.