$1,228,000,000.00 and a Streetcar named Desire

[Paul of Covington]

samfp1943

Paul and Johnnie:

                           Found this link and thought you guys might enjoy seeing it: 

                                                                  NOLA  RTA Cars :

                                                          http://brookvilleequipment.com/    

                                         "New Orleans RTA Canal Street Project"

    Thanks, Sam.      Interesting.   When they started building the new cars, they used the trucks from scrapped Philadelphia PCC cars, but I guess they used Brookville equipment on some of the later ones.

[samfp1943]

samfp1943

One Billion,two hundred and twenty-eight million dollars.

Forgive me! but these figures jump out at me from today's TRAINS Newswire.  What is that amount of a mix of Federal dollars and local tax dollars going to buy?

For startrs in Minnesota you are going to get 11 miles of light rail connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul with a modern version of the old street cars.    I am guessing it also gets you some cars to carry the paying passengers on; the prediction is for 41,000 people on  a weekday day to ride the system. They have already spent some $145 million dollars on engineering, ROW purchases and construction costs.   They are now going to Congress expecting that the US Congress will fund at least half of the Remaining Costs of #957 Million.

New Orleans is wanting to expand its current existing system by 2.5 miles. expanding into neighborhoods not currently served. From the French Quarter Canal Street out Rampart to St Claude and branch down Elysian Fields ( which was where Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire was set)   This little expansion is expected to cost $45 MIllion from Federal Funds and $79 million from Sales Taxes. 

 The few time I have ridden on NOPSI Cars they were a long way from being full, although, I am sure at times they are S.R.O.  mostlty, they don't seem to be so the $79 m seems to be overly optimistic, but sures that would never be with politicians in New Orleans.

Video of NOPSI Car # 836 :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0P7KNP4_Q&feature=related

oR tHIS LINK OF NOLA Trolley cars:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXnJV0tpL7I&feature=related

I'm just sayin'! sure looks like a lota money :

OK! 

    So I am guilty of Raising a Zombie Thread!  

Back a couple of years ago I started this on the upcoming NOPSI Street car extention.  

Looks like it will up and ruinning for SUPER Bowl Week-end (Feb.3) dedication is January 28,2013 .

  The TRAINS Newswire of this date January 22,2013 has the update on this story:

"New Orleans streetcar line set to open"

Published: January 22, 2013

FTA:"...NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans is about ready to open its new Loyola Avenue streetcar line just in time for the Super Bowl. A formal opening ceremony is planned for Jan. 28 for the 1.5-mile line, Patrice Bell Mercadel, spokesperson for the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority told the Associated Press. That’s the date when the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers will arrive. Record crowds are expected when the city hosts its 10^th Super Bowl on Feb. 3..."

FTA:"...Funding for the new streetcar line came from a $45 million federal transportation grant, but the project ran over budget and behind schedule. The New Orleans RTA lists the total cost at about $52 million – some $7 million more than projected – after a number of delays, including the relocation of power and utilities when workers found a petrified cypress log and an old underground ice house no one knew existed.

The new line runs down Loyola Avenue from New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Canal Street. It features four covered stations: at the Union Passenger Terminal, Julia Street, Poydras Street, and Tulane Avenue. On Canal Street, travelers will be able to transfer to other streetcars and reach the French Quarter, National World War II Museum, Cemetery District, Audubon Park, and St. Charles Avenue..."

So there it is, Enjoy!  henry6 and Paul in Covington    

[John WR]

samfp1943

Some of the areas that they want to build the Rampart/St Claude Extention are unbelieveably depressed. Just to spend $124 M just so you could name the line for the Play "A Streetcar Named Desire" sor of boggles the mind.   

Sam,

Rampart Street runs along the lakeside border of the French Quarter which is the highest ground in the city.  There is no proposal to build a streetcar line into the ninth ward.  

If the Federal Grant is for a streetcar line the city does not have the option to use it for other things.  The extension you describe may reach Elysian Fields Avenue but at two and a half miles it will not cross it.

Please excuse me now.  Blanche just got out of the hospital.  We have a date.  

[John WR]

samfp1943

he new line runs down Loyola Avenue from New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Canal Street.

PS.  The new line runs down Loyola Avenue.  Loyola Avenue is an extension of Rampart Street but on the (sort of) uptown side of Canal Street, not remotely near Stella and Stanley.  If you meet me there we can to to Union Terminal and play the pinball machines.  

[John WR]

Paul of Covington

I lived in New Orleans in my teens, and though I'm living about 50 miles away now, a big part of me is still there.

I guess you know what it means to miss New Orleans.

[Paul of Covington]

  John, yes, New Orleans is more than a place.

    By the way, Loyola Ave. is actually an extension of Basin St.   Rampart St. runs parallel a block away.    Also, by the way, the last block or so of Loyola before it meets Canal St. is actually called Elk Place, then at Canal it becomes Basin St.    (For some reason New Orleans likes to take short stretches of streets and rename them.)

[Paul of Covington]

    Sampf1943:

   "– after a number of delays, including the relocation of power and utilities when workers found a petrified cypress log and an old underground ice house no one knew existed."

   Thanks for the update.   I had missed it in the newswire.    Every time there is a construction project around here, they usually dig up surprises; often it's human skeletons.

[John WR]

Paul of Covington

Also, by the way, the last block or so of Loyola before it meets Canal St. is actually called Elk Place, then at Canal it becomes Basin St.    (For some reason New Orleans likes to take short stretches of streets and rename them.)

Now that you remind me I remember it all.  I used to work at 701 Loyola Avenue which is right next to Union Terminal.  At lunch I would go over and play the pin ball machines.