Downtown Trolley Proposal Makes Sense

Dear Editor,
    Margot Clarke's downtown trolley proposal is right on track for Austin taxpayers. Portland's new streetcar connecting Portland State University with an old downtown warehouse district illustrates what linking UT, the Capitol complex, downtown, and Seaholm could do here. For $55 million, Portland's 2.2-mile streetcar created $1.5 billion in new tax base and did it without closing a single street. Continuous business access was achieved by building the bidirectional trolley on parallel streets in three block sections that were completed in three weeks. Track was laid using an 8-foot-wide shallow trench that never impacted utilities and allowed street use throughout construction. Like Austin, Portland has a large, well-used bus system (plus light rail) and a great downtown bus circulator, but the simple streetcar delivered a better than 25-to-1 return on investment for Portland taxpayers.