Streetcar look wastes funds

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: June 19, 2008

Seventy million dollars for a streetcar line?

No wonder Charlottesville City Council balked at shelling out money to study the proposal.

All Council is asked to do is spend $200,000 to $300,000 to look at the possibility.

But several councilors have suggested that the reality of a streetcar is so slim, they believe that spending taxpayer money on the mere possibility would be wasteful — at least, for now.

“The issue is: How much is it worth to invest in something we may not be able to afford and there may not be a funding stream for?” said Councilor David Brown.

Not that a streetcar is a bad idea.

Proponents see it as a means to accomplish several ends — not the least of which is economic development.

The proposed line would run from the Downtown Transit Center to Barracks Road. At one end, the Downtown Mall flourishes with shops, restaurants, theaters, galleries and more. At the other, Barracks Road businesses plus nearby University of Virginia sites attract commerce (think the jammed shopping center parking lot on Saturdays or the John Paul Jones Arena during concerts or sports events).

In between, West Main Street is in the process of redeveloping, but that progress might be slower than city leaders wish.

Advocates say running a streetcar along the route would spur development. They say that in Portland, Ore., $2.28 billion in new investment has occurred in just a two-block radius since a streetcar was installed seven years ago. In general, streetcars produce 4.5 times as much in new development as their initial investment, according to the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation.

That investment is directly tied to ridership, of course. A system that successfully brings more people — i.e., more real and potential customers — into a commercial area presents a boon to businesses. “If you build it, they will come”: Build the streetcar and the riders will come; bring the riders and the investors will build.

Collecting riders is also a way of achieving two other community goals — reducing traffic congestion and air pollution. Fewer cars on the streets as people switch to mass transit means more room to maneuver for those who do use automobiles; it also means fewer emissions pumped into the air.

So building a streetcar line could benefit Charlottesville as a whole and West Main in particular. What’s not entirely clear is whether the reward would be worth the investment (would Charlottesville duplicate Portland’s success?) — or, perhaps more to the point, whether the city and its partners could afford the project at all.

No matter how good an idea it might be, if the money isn’t there the project can’t be built. Transportation funding is scarce right now, from Charlottesville to Richmond to Washington.

Council is asking whether it’s a good idea to start something it can’t finish.

Council will revisit the issue in the fall; perhaps the financial picture will have changed. But for now, the odds of winning funding for the streetcar appear so slim that spending even a mere $200,000 up front seems a questionable investment.