Streetcar Expansion

From Portland Bizjournal, "Feds sign off on east-side streetcar funds"

The Federal Transit Administration has delivered on a promised $75 million that helps extend Portland’s streetcar system to the city’s east side.

The construction grant agreement, announced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, and FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, will finalize the Portland Streetcar expansion. The route will run across the Broadway Bridge and along Martin Luther King Boulevard and Grand Avenue, stopping at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

It will eventually loop back to the west side across a new light-rail and transit bridge that connects the museum with the South Waterfront area.

The funds come through the Small Starts program, a Blumenauer 2003 initiative that provides $800 million in federal funds for smaller-scale and less-expensive transit projects.

The project will create some 1,300 high-wage construction and manufacturing jobs in Oregon. Blumenauer believes it will also attract 2.4 million square feet of new development to the project area and reduce regional vehicle miles traveled by 28 million miles.

The new loop will serve 28 new streetcar stops. The full project will cost $128.27 million. The balance of the funds come from the Portland Development Commission, state and regional money and Portland system development charges.

-------------------------------------

From OregonLive.com, by Dylan Rivera "U.S. inks deal for millions for Portland Streetcar, pledges more nationwide"

Peter Rogoff, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, today signed a contract dedicating $75 million in federal money for the Portland Streetcar eastside loop extension and promised similar federal efforts across the nation.

The contract guarantees the money Portland-area agencies have been anticipating for the project, which started construction during the summer. As The Oregonian has reported, the money was delayed for years by the Bush administration, which funded bus rapid transit projects but blocked streetcars.

On a conference call with reporters this morning, Rogoff said the project is a model for "livable communities" programs that President Barack Obama believes will curb congestion, reduce dependence on foreign oil and pair mixed-use development with mass-transit projects.

"This is just another case where the state of Oregon is leading the way for the country," Rogoff said. "The Oregon delegation is leading the way for the Congress in stepping forward both with the vision but also with public investments from the taxpayers of Oregon as a partner with the federal government in investing in these kinds of projects."

More than 80 cities have plans to build streetcar lines – and some have already started their own projects without federal help. Rogoff would not say which city would be next to receive federal money. But Rogoff did say he has met with more than a dozen mayors who are eager to fund streetcar projects, "including in Boise, in Idaho – not a state that has heretofore been a leader in transit investment."

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Portland wrote a bill that created the Small Starts program, intended to provide federal money for streetcar lines.

Blumenauer praised the eastside loop project, which will extend from the Pearl District, across the Broadway Bridge to the Lloyd Center Mall, and south along Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

"It's an important down payment on our future in Portland, creating over 1,300 high wage jobs, spurring development and helping jump start the economy for the entire state," Blumenauer said.

United Streetcar, a unit of Clackamas-based Oregon Iron Works, Inc., has a contract to build the streetcars needed for the new line.

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, wrote legislation that made it nearly impossible for anyone but United Streetcar to bid on the work.

DeFazio and the Obama administration see domestic production of streetcars as a way to shore up the nation's heavy manufacturing employment while creating more walkable, mixed use neighborhoods.

Both DeFazio and the administration want a new six-year transportation bill to encourage streetcar funding, to eliminate the roadblocks Bush officials put in the way.

"We're going to make absolutely clear that we are determined to extend options for streetcars and other transit alternatives for a more energy-efficient and less-congested America without roadblocks by bureaucrats or ideologues at the FTA or elsewhere," DeFazio said.

Though they mostly agree on policy, DeFazio and the Obama administration disagree on tactics. The administration has called for an 18-month delay to consider new ways to fund transportation and refine pro-mass transit policies. But DeFazio and some Democratic leaders are urging a new six-year bill to be enacted in the next few months, even if it requires using debt or other short-term funding fixes.

U.S. Rep. David Wu also supported funding for the eastside project and praised the spread of streetcars nationwide.

"Streetcars used to be at the heart of our great American cities," Wu said in a statement after the call. "We are now providing even more transportation options, helping realize the dream of more streets with fewer cars.

Federal money will pay for half the project. The other half comes from a variety of sources, including property owners along the route, the Oregon Lottery and urban renewal money from the Pearl District and the inner eastside.