Streetcars running along H Street received a jolt of momentum Monday as the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation to add overhead wires as a power source.
The vote is preliminary, and a vote on the permanent version of the bill is slated for July 13.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells says the legislation would allow the overhead wires on the H Street and Benning Road line, which is already under construction. It also would repeal laws from the 1880s banning such wires, making the federal law a local one.
The National Capital Planning Commission has opposed such wires, saying the 1880s laws do not allow overhead wires in the original L’Enfant footprint of the city.
