Update on the Desire Streetcar Project

By Sue Klein

Some disturbing and confusing information has come our way recently regarding the Desire Streetcar Project planned for North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue. Mr. William Gimple of Parsons Brinckerhoff, an engineering firm specializing in rapid transit systems around the world, gave a presentation at the May 20th Vieux Carré Commission meeting, where he showed the three variations of track placement for the up and down river tracks along N. Rampart Street (Plans A, B1, B2 - see map on next page). Also, at that time we learned that the Basin Street loop is again being considered, whereby instead of the streetcar going down Canal Street to turn around near the ferry, it would go up to Basin Street and come back onto N. Rampart via Toulouse Street.

Mr. Gimple was making the presentation to the VCC because the VCC had just been made a "consulting party" as part of the Section 106 process. The Section 106 regulations of the National Historic Preservation Act were established to protect historic properties, especially National Historic Landmarks such as the Vieux Carré. This appears to be a flaw in this particular Section 106 process, because the VCC should have been part of the Section 106 process from the beginning.

FQCP presented our arguments for eliminating Basin Street and adopting Plan B2 for track placement. To allow for further study, the VCC deferred a vote on this issue until their June 17th meeting.

Later that day, I was told that RTA would make its decision on track placement by June 6th, knowing that the VCC would not meet again until after that date. Why would the VCC be approached for input, and then not be given time to reply? Following e-mails and telephone calls to Councilwoman Clarkson, the VCC, the RTA and Parsons Brinckerhoff officials, the date of June 6th has been pushed back. Margaret Slater of Parsons Brinckerhoff in Nashville, who gave the Section 106 presentation in April at the Maison Dupuy Hotel, has said that no determination will be made until the VCC has given their input.

For those of you who may not be aware of this project, I have listed below some of the pertinent issues at this time:

• Public meetings have been taking place for almost three years, but no French Quarter resident groups were invited to participate until FQCP found out about the project last December and applied and became a consulting party.
• A consensus of FQCP, VCPORA, Esplanade Ridge & Tremé Civic Association, Bywater Neighborhood Association, Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, and Rampart Street merchants including William B. Allen and the Saenger ALL favored the FQ Plan B2 track placement. That placement, as Councilwoman Clarkson is aware, is for the upriver (Tremé) track to be in the street and the downriver (FQ) track to be in the neutral ground --- with the return loop being on Canal at the River --- not Basin Street! The Canal Street loop (Canal to River) would allow riders to arrive at hotels and shopping without transferring. Also, riders could continue to the Westbank via the pedestrian ferry.
• The Basin Street loop via Toulouse to Rampart would be a traffic disaster, since this is the main artery from I-10 into the French Quarter. At peak traffic, the RTA is going to run streetcars every four minutes. Toulouse Street between Basin and Rampart is used for police parking which would be lost, and the stretch would only accommodate the length of one streetcar.
• As noted by William Gimple, the French Quarter is the only neighborhood along the proposed route that has National Historic Landmark status and therefore is entitled to preferential treatment.
• Landscaping and green space will exist regardless of track placement.
• Any track in the street on the French Quarter side would increase noise & vibration (even though the new design is less intrusive than the old tracks on St. Charles).
• There are safety issues regarding service to the French Quarter by fire, police, and medical entities.
• Many more vehicles and pedestrians enter the French Quarter versus Tremé. From a tourism management standpoint, this will increase traffic congestion to an already overburdened French Quarter.
• In addition to the Federal money split being decreased to 50%, there is an additional budget cut from $110 million to $80 million. By eliminating Basin Street, a minimum of $1.2 million would be saved. Also, William B. Allen has said they would relocate to Jefferson Parish, if tracks are laid on Basin Street. The residents and the merchants are opposed to Basin Street, in addition to costing more money. So, why is the RTA or the Department of Public Works pushing Basin Street?
• The French Quarter side of Rampart has many on-street parking spaces. Right now, traffic stops in the right lane when people parallel park. If parking occurred as the streetcar stopped (if tracks were in the street on the FQ side), then both lanes of traffic would be stopped at the same time.
• Also, we challenged the Parsons Brinckerhoff traffic studies and proved them wrong. That is, the downriver (FQ) PM traffic is heavier than the upriver (Tremé) AM traffic. This is another reason to keep the tracks out of Rampart on the French Quarter side.
• Councilwoman Clarkson supports our consensus position for no Basin Street loop and for the downriver (FQ) track being in the neutral ground and the upriver (Tremé) track being in the left lane of N. Rampart.
• Our consensus group wants the Desire Streetcar, but with the least amount negative impact to the Vieux Carré.

Trying to keep up with this project is difficult, because so many entities are involved, and nothing is carved in stone yet. Our organization will keep you updated, so stay tuned.