Recently in Future Expansion Category

On several transit-related mailing lists, there have been a number of questions regarding the slow pace of restoring transit service, particularly repair and/or expansion of the streetcar lines in New Orleans. A number of suggestions have been made, and unfortunately, there's always one or more "gotchas" to what appear at face value to be very good ideas. Here are some of them, and why they're problematic:

Military Options: In the immediate aftermath of the storm, NBC's Brian Williams (who rode the storm out in the Superdome, btw), went on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and remarked about how, when he was in Iraq, if the Army wanted a bridge, they called up an engineering unit, and there was a bridge where they watned it. It amazed him that the same army that can do that couldn't get relief to New Orleans. Trolley enthusiasts have wondered as well why Army Engineers or SeaBees couldn't come in and help with building/rebuilding roads to get the trolleys running. Williams illustrates the problem in his own statement, though, by saying "when I was in Iraq." The US Army is all but totally in Iraq. Even though the Louisiana National Guard units rotated home after the storm, they were required to leave the bulk of their equipment behind.

FEMA Assistance: FEMA is financing the bulk of the reconstruction of New Orleans' transit infrastructure. There are two big problems when it comes to dealing with FEMA. First and most obvious is that funds coming from FEMA come to the NORTA in dribs and drabs. One of the reasons that the St. Charles line is progressing is that the funding for most of that work is based in a FTA project that was approved before the storm. The other problem is that FEMA funds are targeted at re-building, not re-designing. That means there will be money to repair the Riverfront and Von Dullen streetcars that were flooded, but none to buy/build more of these vehicles. If ever there was a time to take a step back and examine the possibility of expanding light rail in New Orleans, it's now, but the money being sent to the city will be earmarked to replace buses.

New FTA projects: This was a pipe dream even before the storm. The Canal line was financed at an 80/20, federal-to-local ratio. The Bush Administration changed that to 50/50 in 2004. I suspect that funding the Iraq and Afgan wars played a big part in that change, and the military are spending even more money today than they were in 2004.

Labor: Everything is slow in terms of the construction business in New Orleans. The reason is obvious: The amount of construction work is overwhelming. From Metairie, where 6" to 1' of water in homes meant people had to cut out drywall up to 4' high (so you could easily rebuild the walls with 4' sheets), to parts of the city where homes got 10+ feet of water, there's a lot going on. The city's largest road construction firm (and the company that built the new Canal line) is Boh Brothers. They're wrapped up in a huge upgrade to I-10 in Jefferson Parish that started before the storm and won't be finished until next year.

What really slows down the municipal contracts is the residential and private commercial work. Businesses that needed to re-open as quickly as possible after the storm, as well as homeowners who needed to be back in their houses are willing to pay top dollar to general contractors. Those contractors in turn are able to offer much better wages to their crews than Boh Brothers can for street work, re-building St. Charles Avenue, or other low-bid municipal projects. Over 200K people have not returned to the metro area, and that drop has really put a hit on the pool of semi-skilled laborers. Sure, we've got a lot more Hispanic workers in the area (here both legally and illegally), but even they aren't enough to keep up with demand.

To sum it up, it's not as simple as fixing one issue or adding one ingredient to the gumbo to make transit projects in New Orleans click smoothly. As a local, I'm simply happy that we were fortunate enough that the Canal line trackage and wiring was essentially undamaged, and the 900-series streetcars were safe in Carrollton Station, so we at least have them running.

At a time when RTA's ridership is about 15% of its pre-storm numbers, the notion of adding more streetcar service to the city sounds just crazy, but that's just what the Regional Planning Commission is suggesting. They want to look at the possibility of a "Loyola Loop" off of the Canal line:

Under the Regional Planning Commission proposal, streetcars would turn from Canal Street onto Elk Place and then Loyola Avenue, passing near City Hall and the storm-damaged Hyatt Hotel, which is scheduled to reopen next year. The cars then would turn onto the Union Passenger Terminal grounds before heading down Howard Avenue to Carondelet Street, where they would follow the St. Charles line's tracks back to Canal.

The idea isn't new, as streetcars used to run on Loyola prior to their post-WWII phaseout. Tying the Union Passenger Terminal more directly to the RTA system makes a lot of sense in terms of moving towards commuter rail that would feed in from the west, particularly the airport. Still, RTA is barely back on its feet, and the agancy is struggling to provide basic service. Not to mention that the RPC is advocating the expansion of a streetcar line that doesn't have its regular operating streetcar fleet. The 24 2000-series Von Dullen streetcars are currently being re-built after receiving major flood damage.

Still, this is a very forward-looking project that deserves serious consideration.

I did my level best to be objective in presenting the light rail plans of the "Bring New Orleans Back" Commission. I've requested further details on the plan, in the hopes that there's more thought to this than just a few hi-lighter lines on a street map.

That said, some initial comments on the proposed expansions:

Streetcars vs. LRVs: I can't possibly imagine that anyone is considering traditional LRVs for New Orleans, as they showed in the powerpoint presentation. Articulated LRV trains just aren't necessary and would require an entire support infrastructure separate from that of the existing streetcars. It makes more sense to continue the 2000-series Von Dullen cars for this plan.

The Canal-Elysian Fields Line: On paper, this line makes wicked good sense, to start out in Lakeview and end up at UNO. But it's going to take a lot more than drawing a dotted line on a map to get streetcars running on Canal Blvd. There are serious issues with that street, and that's one of the reasons streetcars went down West End rather than Canal Blvd. in the first place. The neutral ground from the cemeteries The railroad underpass near Florida Ave. and the I-610 interchange will force the tracks off the neutral ground and into the street. The neutral ground on Canal Blvd. was referred to as the "sunken gardens," and that hasn't changed. Putting streetcar tracks there will require a lot of fill-in and drainage modification.

A better idea would be to change the expanded route from Canal Blvd. to West End Blvd., bringing back the old West End line. Run the tracks on the west side of West End, in that large expanse of land that used to be the New Basin Canal. The line could either be terminated at Robt. E. Lee and West End, or it could be turned eastbound on Robt. E. Lee and terminate at Canal Blvd. Keep transit service on Canal Blvd. by using trolley buses. They make more sense on that street. Run a trolley bus line (or even a heritage street railway line) on Harrison Avenue, from the Marconi Canal to West End.

Airport Line: Of all these proposed changes, this is the one that should be built first. It's also the primary exception to the notion of using traditional LRVs. This line would go a long way in expanding our convention and cruise-ship business. I'm not too concerned with taxicab drivers being outraged here. In Boston, there are those who ride the Blue Line in from the airport and those who take a cab. It'll be the same here.

UNO-Claiborne-Desire Line: Also a very logical project. Streetcar service on Claiborne revives the old "St. Charles Belt" concept, even if it involves a line change. This is a huge boost to servicing schools as well, since this line passes UNO, Xavier, and Dillard. The "Desire" segment down St. Claude is problematical because of the dispute with Norfolk Southern over the grade crossing at Press, but maybe all the post-k rebuilding will be the mucle RTA needs to move the railroad.

Algiers-Gentilly Ridge Line: What a neat idea, well at least on paper. The line would link one of the city's best post-storm neighborhoods, Algiers, with NASA-Michoud, one of the city's biggest employers. The notion of modifying the Crescent City Connection bridges to accomodate light rail is fascinating, expensive, and problematical, but not impossible. A logical tie-in here would be to link Old Algiers to this line via a heritage line that would attract tourists.

River Line: This was an idea that made good sense pre-k, and continues to be a good idea. Riverfront has been a huge success for RTA, tying the Convention Center to the Quarter. Expanding the line to Jackson would take some of the pressure off of the Magazine bus line.

Overall, the proposals are very interesting. The juxtaposition of a well-thought-out line linking Algiers and Michoud with the lack of thought put into the Canal-UNO line lead me to wonder just how much input from transit professionals took place here. In any case, the concept is fantastic and I look forward to doing what I can to help make it all a reality.