Community meets to talk about plans for streetcar

by Anna Hampton

Daily Lobo

Representatives from HDR Engineering discussed at a meeting Tuesday plans for a streetcar transportation system that would be operational by the end of 2009.

Greg Payne, director of the city's transit department, said fares have not been determined. The streetcars would probably operate between 5:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., he said.

The project would cost $28 million per mile, a total of $224 million and $6 million less than the Big-I, said Michael Riordan, a representative from the city's department of municipal development.

The streetcar would run down Yale Avenue from Sunport Airport to UNM's main campus. It would also run down Central Avenue from Amherst to Tingley drives, said Martin Heinrich, president of the Albuquerque City Council.

"These projects have the potential to change the corridors of the city," he said. "They (streetcars) offer real choices for those who are less car dependent."

The system was not welcomed by everyone attending the meeting.

Resident Jim Alsup said the decision to install the streetcars was made prior to the meeting.

"It's obviously being sold to the public," he said.

Alsup said he will write a letter to his city counselor and talk to his coworkers in protest of the streetcars.

Resident George Hannett said he was "stunned by the lack of information."

He said money that would go toward a new transit system should be used to improve the bus system.

"For what this is projected to cost, they could double the city bus system," he said. "You could put twice as many buses in service to cover the entire county."

Resident T'Brin E. Back said she depends on the bus system to get around, because she is blind.

She said the streetcar system would take longer than the bus system.

"We need a mass transit system, but this doesn't serve the masses," she said.

Officials say stops would be located between five and 10 minutes away from each other.

"Our goal is to get them as close as possible," said Sasha Needman, a landscape designer at HDR Engineering.

Payne said the streetcar system could help traffic congestion and development in Albuquerque.

"Development will follow the streetcar," he said, explaining how businesses are attracted to the permanence of streetcars. "It will not necessarily follow the bus system."

Andrew DeGarmo, a representative from the city's transit department, said if streetcars were installed, buses, including Rapid Ride, could be used elsewhere.

"One advantage would be that it would free up a whole lot of buses," DeGarmo said.

The cars will be 66 feet long, eight feet wide and hold 150 passengers. It could reach speeds of 45 mph, said Payne.

The proposed route would have 29 stops.

Each stop would include canopies, benches, trash receptacles, bike racks and message signs displaying the arrival time of the next streetcar, said Kevin Collins of HDR Engineering.

The streetcars would also provide easier handicap access, he said.

"It made sense in the past. It will make sense in the future," said Payne, when discussing the impact old streetcars had on connecting Albuquerque's communities in the early 1900s.

The next meeting will be held today at 6:30 p.m. at the Heights Community Center.