(Note from Kevin: This post marks the beginning of a series of updates from District 9 City Councilman Joel Burns, sending us photos and perhaps even a little video from the Streetcar Study Committee’s trip to the Pacific Northwest to study the modern streetcar systems of Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma. I just want to thank Joel for taking the time from what will be a very busy few days to send us updates. You should be seeing Joel’s name under the post’s title each time he updates. And now, here’s Joel.)
Members of the Fort Worth Modern Streetcar Study Committee, along with the Mayor, seven Council members, a group of City planning staffers and other community leaders arrive in Seattle Thursday for the start of an intense two-day study tour of Pacific Northwest modern streetcar systems.
To date, the Study Committee has reviewed Fort Worth’s previous rail studies and the streetcar systems in peer cities, as well as conducted an preliminary assessment of cost and potential funding sources. The culmination of their Phase 1 tasks was to determine is a streetcar system is worth pursuing at this time. The answer to that question was a uniform “yes.”
The objective of this week’s fact-finding trip is to make first-hand observations of the systems in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington and Portland, Oregon and receive briefings from local experts in those cities so that Fort Worth stakeholders can assess the costs and benefits of a modern streetcar system, formulate the criteria for successful starter corridors, start to identify a funding strategy, and identify next steps for implementation.
A total of 47 participants will make the trip including the Mayor and 7 Council members, 12 Study Committee members; 10 City Planning staff; 5 member of the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council; 6 from other agencies such as The T, Downtown Fort Worth Inc., Tarrant County, and the North Texas Council of Governments; and a small group of consultants.
I would like to thank the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council for providing $10,000 to funding of this study trip. An additional $25,000 came from fundraising from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc, other agencies and individuals such as the participating consultants. I especially want to thank DFWI president Andy Taft, who chairs the Study Committee for his leadership of the Committee and helping to find the funding to pay for this trip. City staffers David Gaspers, Cinde Gilliland and Dana Burghdoff are also to be commended for all the work they did in preparation for this tour.
Lastly, I want to thank our friends at FortWorthology.com and WestandClear.com for allowing me to post updates from this study trip, focusing on what we learn along the way.
Cities across the country are looking to modern streetcars as forward-thinking future transportation solutions (see this post from earlier this week in Salt Lake City: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10564326).
I am excited about the prospect of bringing such a high-quality transit service to Fort Worth to provide circulation in our downtown and urban core, reduce automobile trips, and connect and integrate into a more comprehensive transportation system in North Texas that includes light and commuter rail. I am also excited about the potential to revitalize historic neighborhoods and create sustainable development that accompanies such streetcar systems.
More tomorrow from Seattle.
Councilmember Joel Burns,
City of Fort Worth, District 9
Fort Worth Streetcar Study Committee: http://www.fortworthgov.org/planninganddevelopment/misc.aspx?id=57270