When it was announced about a year ago that the Marigny would be getting added to the streetcar line, I had to change my pants. Then, the skepticism kicked in and I said I’d wait to be excited until I saw work.
Well, they’ve been diggin’ up Loyola from about Girod to Poydras, and I’ll be damned if what they’re putting in doesn’t look like streetcar tracks. I haven’t read too deep into the track plans, but Loyola does become Basin at Canal (well, it becomes Elk at Tulane, then Basin at Canal), so color me excited.
What’s neat is that the streetcar will be but a few blocks from my house. I’m excited for a few reasons:
- I can hop on a streetcar to go to the usually wine-filled PizzaNight uptown.
- Increase in property values, specifically mine.
- An option for covered transport when it’s raining and I don’t want to ride my bike or truck. Or the truck doesn’t want to go.
- Streetcars are goddamn awesome.
I’m glad I’m not directly on the line, but about the same distance from the family house I grew up in to St. Charles Ave. It’s soothing I think to hear the faint sounds of the streetcar in the not-too-far-but-far-enough distance.
And apparently, support is still needed. I signed the petition at change.org to extend the line down to the end of the Bywater, and there’s more overall info at Transport for NOLA.
I’ve been following this pretty closely, and am excited to hear that funding for the Rampart/St. Claude expansion is finally coming through. The issue with expanding all the way into the Bywater is the Press St. tracks. Apparently, any sort of structure that will allow for a streetcar to cross the tracks will a) be extremely costly and b) will require construction cooperation and scheduling strategies with the railroad that Veolia/RTA has not been able to nail down. It’s not that the City or RTA/Veolia doesn’t WANT the Bywater spur, it’s that the actual construction and operation of the spur is quite complicated. – Nicky