WASHINGTON – The delayed and troubled D.C. Streetcar was at risk of being mothballed as recently as last month but now the Bowser administration has reversed course and is talking about expanding the project.
The little-carriage-that-could has cheated death and could eventually extend well beyond the H Street Corridor in Northeast.
While unveiling her budget on Thursday, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced another $335 million – which would more than double how much the city has already spent on the project – to get the streetcar line up and running and to extend the line to the Benning Road Metro station in Ward 7.
“I don’t think anybody thinks that the line should stop in the middle of Benning Road,” she says. “Certainly not me.”
Bowser also suggested a future extension west toward Georgetown.
Her vision, however, is considerably more modest than the 37-mile network of streetcar lines her predecessor, Vince Gray, imagined.
After the Bowser administration assumed office in January, new Department of Transportation Director Leif Dormsjo raised serious doubts about the project.
He not only tabled the planned opening date in January, but he left open the possibility that the troubled streetcar was beyond saving.
“I’m looking at this very objectively, and I’m letting the facts lead me to the right recommendation,” Dormsjo said in March.
“We’re taking a look at the system, where it stands, whether it’s safe, whether it’s ready to be opened, and we’ll move on from there,” he said.
A third-party team of rail experts ultimately determined that the project could operate and issued recommendations to that end.
DDOT has not projected a start date when service could begin. The city has already spent almost $200 million on the streetcar project.
