[CouvScott]

Thursday, October 11, 2007
BY DON HAMILTON, Columbian staff writer

Here comes another mass transit study.

The Vancouver chapter of the American Institute of Architects has been exploring the feasibility of running streetcars through Vancouver not so much as a commuter connection but as a way to link Vancouver neighborhoods.

Organizers say it would complement, not compete with, any other mass transit system the city adopts.

"It could connect with light rail or anything else going on," said Don Luthardt, president of the organization's Vancouver chapter this year.

The project is the third Vancouver mass transit study now in the works. The others are:

- The Columbia River Crossing, which plans to run either light rail or express buses on the new Interstate 5 Bridge it's planning. A decision on the mode will come this winter. The route isn't certain but would run roughly two miles north from the river to the Lincoln neighborhood.

- The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council is also studying high-capacity mass transit, not just for Vancouver but the whole county. The study is looking at what types of transit systems in which corridors would make sense considering the county's ­expected growth. The study is only a study, however, and the project has no ­authorization to construct anything.

Now the plan by the architects is maturing. It may not have the technical expertise of the Columbia River Crossing or the bureaucratic heft of the Regional Transportation Council, but the group has a vision of how a streetcar could bring the community closer together.

It started in the spring of 2006, when the American Institute of Architects granted its Vancouver chapter $15,000 to launch what it called the Vancouver USA Streetcar Feasibility Study. It was done in part to mark the 150th birthday of both the American Institute of Architects and the city of Vancouver. Other chapters around the country are carrying out other types of community improvement efforts this year, Luthardt said, to mark the organization's sesquicentennial.


A 'livability' issue

The Vancouver organization doesn't see its streetcar plan detracting from the other transportation studies under way.

"This is about how to help the community increase livability," Luthardt said.

On Saturday, about two dozen people attended a forum to consider ideas and the report of the meeting, released Wednesday, outlines the group's intentions.

Few details about the project have been set. No routes or construction costs have been spelled out and no fare structure has been chosen. Luthardt envisions a line serving the city, not beyond, with a focus on downtown, nearby neighborhoods, Clark College and the planned riverside development at the old Boise Cascade property.

Portland has had its streetcar system since 2001, not as a commuter line but as a people-mover. The line now extends from Northwest Portland through downtown and south along the Willamette River to the South Waterfront district. The line also has plans to expand east across the Willamette, through the inner eastside, and eventually south to Lake Oswego.

The Vancouver City Council toured the Portland Streetcar last month, and the architect group will brief the elected officials again. Luthardt hopes the group will turn its final report over to the city by the end of the year. But the organization won't abandon the effort.

"Our goal is not to have it sit on the shelf," he said. "Eventually it's going to have to go to the real experts."

Update

- Previously: Two mass transit studies are under way in Clark County.

- What's new: The third and most recent study is being prepared by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

- What's next: The architect group expects to turn over its final report to the city of Vancouver by the end of the year. There are no plans to develop the recommendations.

[CouvScott]

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian

Let's dream a little - about the time streetcars ran on the streets of Vancouver, and across the Interstate Bridge to Portland.

Some remember, as kids, putting a penny on the streetcar track ahead of the trolley, and collecting the crunched, pancaked coin after the car passed over it. Many recall the shake, lurch and rattle of the old cars. It was nostalgic, if not romantic.

And "The Trolley Song" lyrics: "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley; ding, ding, ding went the bell; zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings. ?"

That time has gone, or has it? The trolley could return to Vancouver streets, but not cross the bridge. The bridge link may be completed by light rail to connect with Portland's MAX line near the Expo Center. Trolley tracks are built into existing streets, and a streetcar line could act as a collector system for light rail.

Trolleys still run in 25 states, with the St. Charles line in New Orleans ranked as the oldest continuously operated line in the world. San Francisco's vintage cable cars still clatter along.

Streetcars, or trolleys, which disappeared from the Portland scene in the 1950s, have returned to increasing ridership, said Rick Gustafson, executive director of the nonprofit Portland Streetcar, Inc., owned by the city. "It's sort of amazing how popular the streetcar is," Gustafson said. Ridership, now about 10,000 daily, is increasing 20 percent a year. "We've experienced a strong response" in businesses along the line, he added.

Portland has 10 streetcars. Trolley service extends eight miles through the Pearl District to Portland State University and to the South Waterfront.



Modern version is big improvement

Streetcars returned to Portland in 2001. Not the rattlers, but smooth-gliding electric rail cars, with comfortable seats and easy access. They were manufactured in the Czech Republic by the Skoda-Inekon Group, the same company that built the three trolleys now being tested in Seattle. The air-conditioned trolleys can hold up to 140 people, and will make 11 stops - every two to three blocks - over the 1.3-mile Seattle route.

The line will serve the Denny Triangle and South Lake Union areas, just south of the University of Washington campus. It will connect with light rail, regional buses and the monorail.

Streetcar service will begin Dec. 14, said Ethan Melone, project manager, Seattle Department of Transportation, for the South Lake Union Street line.

Seattle.gov , a Web site for the city, lists the cost at $50.5 million, half raised through a local improvement distinct, and the remainder from federal, state and local governments. Over the next 15 years, 15,000 to 23,000 new jobs and 8,000 to 10,000 new housing units are projected along the line.

How serious is Vancouver about streetcars? Vancouver City Council members rode the Portland line last month. Mayor Royce Pollard, who makes no secret of his affection for light rail, also likes streetcars. He envisions them serving neighborhoods, and making connections at light rail stations. Intense development, and new housing along the lines - "the economic vitality is greater than light rail" - was another plus, he noted. Streetcars could start at Boise Cascade on the waterfront, and run to Clark College and to a light-rail station near Kiggins Bowl. There could even be a line along Fourth Plain, the mayor speculated. The city asked Gramor Development to include streetcars or another form of transit in plans for developing the waterfront area.

That ties in with the dream of a former Vancouver fire chief, the late Jim Brown, who wanted to see streetcars on the city's waterfront.

Another group looking at a "small, local streetcar loop system within the downtown vicinity" that might have opportunities for expansion is the Vancouver chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Vancouver is paying consultant and former Portland Commissioner Charlie Hales up to $40,000 to assist in a streetcar study (The Oregonian, 10/11/07).

Meanwhile, the question of bus or light rail transit across the new Columbia River bridge - which might or might not affect a streetcar system - is yet to be decided. Seattle's Melone says new trolleys are "clean and quiet and don't rumble," a fit for light rail, too.

[PuyoPiyo]

I think if they link the street cars or light rail to Boise Cascade site, it will help the 10,000 residents envision project to be successful.

[zilfondel]

streetcars are most successful when they are a key component of the planning, design, and financing of a new or rebuilt city district. They don't "magically" happen development to occur, but since so much effort is spent on them, they end up guiding a lot of the design for a district, like the Pearl or SoWa.

Will be interesting to see what South Lake Union will end up being like.

[CouvScott]

Tuesday, December 04, 2007
BY JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

The face of downtown Vancouver will change dramatically in the next 10 to 20 years with redevelopment of the Boise Cascade waterfront site, construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge and possible extension of light-rail transit into Washington.

Those changes could create the opportunity to bring back streetcars, which faded from downtown more than a half-century ago.

"These kinds of things really get planners and architects, as well as the general public, thinking about what our city might become," Ralph Willson, an owner of LSW Architects in Vancouver, told the city council Monday. "We know the automobile is not going to be the answer to fixing our transportation needs."

Willson is a member of the American Institute of Architects' Vancouver chapter, which studied how streetcars could fit into the city's future.

"We think this is prime time," Willson said. "We think it is key to our future."

Six years ago, Portland reintroduced streetcars, which cater to about 10,000 riders every weekday in the city's downtown, Pearl District and, most recently, to the South Waterfront area on the Willamette River south of downtown.

Unlike light rail, which operates in its own right of way and moves commuters at high speed, streetcars share the road with cars, trucks and buses and assist people with short intracity travel, sometimes no more than three or four blocks.

The chapter's research indicates that streetcars have the potential to increase density and spur redevelopment, something that Vancouver wants to do in a downtown that only recently has begun to emerge from a 25-year slumber.

Councilman Dan Tonkovich said streetcars create a sense of permanence and send a message to private developers.

"It signals an investment, you might say, that you're serious about the redevelopment efforts, that you're serious about the densities," Tonkovich said.

The Vancouver chapter conducted a two-day symposium at Clark College that included Charlie Hales, a former Portland city commissioner who left office in 2002 to take a job with the engineering firm HDR but remains a national expert on streetcars.

Willson said Hales urged participants to think about how they would use a streetcar system. Or, as Willson put it, "Don't think you are designing this for someone else."

Those participating in the symposium looked at a number of routes, including service to the Boise waterfront site, the Vancouver National Historic Reserve and Main Street, where the city hopes to encourage retail development.

The biggest question is financial. Councilman Tim Leavitt gave an estimate of $38 million for every mile, which means even a modest three-mile system could cost in excess of $100 million. The city is already short of money to pay for roads for the Boise project.

Matt Ransom, Vancouver transportation planning manager, said the federal government has a "small starts" program that can provide a 50 percent match to help pay for streetcar projects.

Portland has applied for federal small starts dollars to help take its streetcar system across the Willamette River into east Portland, Ransom said.

Councilwoman Jeanne Stewart questioned if Vancouver could build a streetcar system without passing significant costs onto taxpayers.

"The local share is still the local share," Stewart said. "It's still one half of a lot of money."

[PuyoPiyo]

The biggest question is financial. Councilman Tim Leavitt gave an estimate of $38 million for every mile, which means even a modest three-mile system could cost in excess of $100 million. The city is already short of money to pay for roads for the Boise project.

That's good they are picking the Boise project before the streetcars.

[Okstate]

Any updates? I'm guessing this goes hand in hand with the CRC.

[PacificNW]

▲▲ Man, if all the proposed streetcar proposals (locally/nationwide) actually get built, this could mean a lot of business/money for the streetcar manufacturing plant in Clackamas County! Yah!

[Okstate]

I'm pumped about us getting a new model streetcar with the eastside loop.