Omaha Forums

Trains Magazine wrote:KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Council last week authorized a contract worth as much as $697,559 with HDR Engineering for design and conceptual engineering work on a proposed 2.2-mile downtown streetcar line. The line would travel primarily along Main Street and connect the River Market, Downtown Loop, and Crown Center areas.

Whether the line is actually built or not is up to voters. A special election will be held, possibly as soon as April, in which about 10,000 downtown area voters would cast ballots to create a transportation development district. The proposal to establish the district would include a 1 percent sales tax increase and property tax assessments to help pay for the $100 million proposal.

Tom Trabon, the authority’s chairman, said the group’s primary concern is building interest in the service, currently expected to begin running in 2015.

“We think a fare will drive away ridership,” Trabon said. “We want to encourage people to ride this thing.”

trains.com wrote:KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Construction on Kansas City’s downtown streetcar line is nearly 50 percent complete and should be finished by this fall. Then the vehicles will undergo months of testing before passengers can begin riding the line in early 2016, the Kansas City Star reports.

Linkin5 wrote:Depressing to think Omaha at one te was further along than KC in planning but nothing materialized.

iamjacobm wrote:

Linkin5 wrote:Depressing to think Omaha at one te was further along than KC in planning but nothing materialized.

Would be interesting to see what the city would look like today with a decade of TOD under our belt if we acted when the streetcar momentum was at it's early peak.

S33 wrote:We would have either funding for, or some existence of, streetcar today, if Jim Suttle hadn't been elected in '09. That, I am almost sure of, recession or no recession.

Greg S wrote:

S33 wrote:We would have either funding for, or some existence of, streetcar today, if Jim Suttle hadn't been elected in '09. That, I am almost sure of, recession or no recession.

I think that is true.  I do wish we had them.  The only issue and it would have been huge was paying for them.  Hal's numbers were so far off on paying for Qwest/Century Link Center, it would have been interesting to see if the same happened with the street car.  Especially when you see that the numbers used to fund TD Ameritrade were actually accurate and working.

Greg

Union Station KC Retweeted
Tom Gerend ‏@TomGerend 36 minutes ago
#kcstreetcar heading north. @UnionStationKC @kcstreetcar #testing

Linkin5 wrote:This should be Omaha.

Midwestern wrote:The system only cost $100 million to build? With 20% of that covered by a federal grant? That should be very doable for Omaha. Isn't that exactly how much the elevated expressway cost?

I like their idea of paying for part of it by having an area sales tax within the areas where the streetcar runs.

Good for Kansas City. At this point though, it would make sense for us to observe for a couple years how the KC Streetcar does, that way we could learn from their experience. It's interesting that they are doing free fares. Not sure if I like that...

skinzfan23 wrote:

Midwestern wrote:The system only cost $100 million to build? With 20% of that covered by a federal grant? That should be very doable for Omaha. Isn't that exactly how much the elevated expressway cost?

I like their idea of paying for part of it by having an area sales tax within the areas where the streetcar runs.

Good for Kansas City. At this point though, it would make sense for us to observe for a couple years how the KC Streetcar does, that way we could learn from their experience. It's interesting that they are doing free fares. Not sure if I like that...

Yes, the Dodge expressway was $100 million. If only the city would invest in public transportation instead of more highways.

jessep28 wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:

Midwestern wrote:The system only cost $100 million to build? With 20% of that covered by a federal grant? That should be very doable for Omaha. Isn't that exactly how much the elevated expressway cost?

I like their idea of paying for part of it by having an area sales tax within the areas where the streetcar runs.

Good for Kansas City. At this point though, it would make sense for us to observe for a couple years how the KC Streetcar does, that way we could learn from their experience. It's interesting that they are doing free fares. Not sure if I like that...

Yes, the Dodge expressway was $100 million. If only the city would invest in public transportation instead of more highways.

The West Dodge Expressway was a state project, not a city one. That section of Dodge is part of U.S. HIghway 6.

jessep28 wrote:Omaha does receive some state aid for road repairs.

skinzfan23 wrote:Here is another picture:

skinzfan23 wrote:I also read that the KC and Cincinnati have the largest streetcars in the country based on dimensions and capacity.

Brad wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:I also read that the KC and Cincinnati have the largest streetcars in the country based on dimensions and capacity.

KC's is crazy for a "Starter System". It goes all the way up and around that new area on the north end of downtown, right by the river.

Greg S wrote:The state is quite far behind on getting roads repaired, along with bridges.


Greg

Busguy2010 wrote:I'm glad Omaha has waited. All the older ideas were just going to be stupid novelties for people who visited downtown on occasion. With the new route up Farnam, this will actually connect communities. Happy for the wait and eager for the arrival.

GetUrban wrote:

Busguy2010 wrote:I'm glad Omaha has waited. All the older ideas were just going to be stupid novelties for people who visited downtown on occasion. With the new route up Farnam, this will actually connect communities. Happy for the wait and eager for the arrival.

Exactly. How often would the people who live in Omaha really need to go straight from the zoo to TD Ameritrade Stadium? It needs to be a new time-saving mode of transportation that people can use as they go about living their daily lives. We can learn from what other cities have tried.