Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Even after a notoriously botched rollout, hopes were still high in some areas that the D.C. Streetcar could one day connect neighborhoods in the District that were otherwise underserved by Metro and could use an economic boost. However, the budget passed by the D.C. Council this week significantly reduced the Streetcar’s capital funding, and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said it is indicative of dwindling support for the line’s future plans.
“At community meeting after community meeting across the city, people ask me why we’ve wasted our money,” Mendelson told WMAL. “Generally, if you ask anybody who lives in this city, they would say that this has been a white elephant.”
The original portion of the line, running along H Street NE, opened in February 2016 after years of delays and funding overruns. It was originally envisioned as one portion of a city-wide network, running from the Benning Road Metro station west to Georgetown, along with other lines into downtown and up Georgia Avenue. While Mendelson said he still supports the Benning Road extension across the Anacostia River, he sounded lukewarm on any further plans.
“To continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on building streetcars because we think streetcars are the future for transportation just is not popular,” he said.
Still, the $60 million budget reduction was worrisome to Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Justin A. Lini, who said his neighborhood of Parkview in Ward Seven has put great faith into the line as a catalyst for economic development.
“It’s very distressing to see that investment stop at the western bank of the Anacostia River,” Lini told WMAL. “One thing we don’t have is a lot of amenities or shopping. A lot of our people have to travel a long way to do basic errands.”
He said the streetcar would bring with it repairs to the aging bridge that takes Benning Road over DC-295, freight and Metro tracks, and bring a redesign of one of the District’s most dangerous intersections just past that bridge at Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road.
“A streetcar indicates a commitment to economic development in a community,” he said. “I think it would be a catalyst for businesses and communities all along Benning Road.”
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: DC Streetcar)
