D.C. Councilman Jim Graham is putting the brakes on plans to install a streetcar system in Anacostia until transportation officials explain why it is worthy of District money.
“My concerns run pretty much the gamut from A to Z,” Graham said. “As best I can determine, we have never really had a focused oversight hearing on this rather large expenditure of funds.”
Graham has issued a resolution to disapprove a budget request that would shift $11 million from the long-planned 11th Street Bridge project to the streetcar project to fund initial construction of the line this fall.
The action delays the funds transfer and gives Graham time to hold a public hearing, set for July 14.
“Does this project make sense, from the point of where it’s located and what it’s going to achieve, and how much it’s going to cost?” he said. “This might be the best idea conceivable, but I think it’s time for the public to review it.”
Graham has asked District Department of Transportation Director Emeka Moneme to provide him with ridership estimates for the line and to prepare answers to questions such as “what other routes were considered?” and “why were they rejected?”
The streetcar project, which broke ground four years ago, would run between Bolling Air Force Base, the Navy Annex, Barry Farm and the Anacostia Metro station, and would be the first in a series of proposed streetcar routes that transportation officials envision will link the city.
DDOT paid about $10 million for three streetcars in 2005 and has stored them at the manufacturer’s site in the Czech Republic until the line is ready.
DDOT officials said draining $11 million from the 11th Street Bridge project to help fund the streetcar system would not delay the project, which is a $475 million effort to better link regional and local traffic across the Anacostia River to the downtown federal core.
The partially funded bridge project is still slated to begin construction in mid 2009, officials said.
