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Articles
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| Overhead cable streetcars not an option for H Street |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
The approved Anacostia streetcar line likely will run on overhead power cables, but planners say the District’s first choice of cars for the planned H Street corridor would violate federal laws designed to protect the city’s historic character.
Washington is “one of the most significant wire-free landscapes in the world,” National Capital Planning Commission community planner Lucy Kempf said Feb. 6 at the body’s monthly meeting.
Overhead wires would adversely affect the city’s streetscape in historic Washington and Georgetown, where they are prohibited, Kempf said. The H Street corridor falls within those limits, but Anacostia does not.
District Department of Transportation officials said that an Anacostia line will be constructed in a time frame of about 18 months from groundbreaking to completion, but the H Street line will take five to seven years.
The National Capital Planning Commission must approve portions of the streetcar project in the “Central Area of Washington, D.C., which is a subset of the L’Enfant City,” commission spokesperson Athena Hernandez said in an e-mail interview. She said the boundaries are from Pennsylvania Avenue to Florida Avenue and 15th Street to North Capitol Street. "
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“DDOT and NCPC are working together closely to identify alternative technologies that do not involve overhead wire,” Hernandez said.
Transportation Department director Emeka Moneme told the commission that his agency is exploring alternatives to overhead wires for a citywide streetcar system, which is about 20 years off.
Moneme said the Transportation Department will choose cars based on cost, size, maneuverability, visual aesthetics and durability.
So far, the agency has looked into cars powered by overhead wires, underground sources, onboard fuel and hybrid wire/fuel sources, Moneme said. Portland, Ore.’s, overhead-wire streetcars, which the District initially said it would use, best fit the criteria, Moneme said.
The city’s old streetcar line -- remnants of tracks still exist in Georgetown -- ran on an underground power source within the historic city, according to the commission.
Commission chairman John V. Cogbill III asked Moneme if technology like the city’s former underground-powered system is still viable. But Moneme said that system is a significant safety hazard for pedestrians crossing the electrified tracks.
As for diesel-powered cars, Moneme said those currently available are long, wide and otherwise visually unappealing. “Not very good, not very nimble,” he said. “As you can see, it’s not one of my favorites.”
Commissioner Harriet Tregoning, director of the D.C. Office of Planning, said smaller, more maneuverable cars could be necessary if streetcars cannot use certain broad boulevards.
“We’re certainly not the only place in the world with this problem,” Tregoning said of the federal ban on overhead wires. She added that the city would most likely use duel-propulsion cars, which would run on wires outside the historic center and Georgetown and switch to another power source inside those limits.
Moneme said his agency has looked at cars in France with onboard batteries that provide limited power for off-wire areas. He said while there are interesting alternatives to overhead wires, many are “really still in the demonstration phase.”
The Transportation Department’s next steps, Moneme said, are to continue studying off-wire technology, continue discussions about urban design and reach out to the streetcar industry, detailing the District’s needs and limitations.
The agency already bought three overhead wire-powered cars for the four-stop line, but Moneme said they could be resold if the District decides on another technology — the agency prefers matching cars for all lines.
“We think it’s going to be one of the signature developments of the city,” Moneme said.
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Posted on Mar 22, 2008 08:51am.
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