Cities study success of Portland Streetcar

In the six years since the Portland (Oregon) Streetcar began operating, the city’s Pearl District has experienced a remarkable development boom — one that is causing other cities to consider starting streetcar systems of their own.
From 2001 to 2005, approximately 100 development projects, with a total value of $2.3 billion, were built in the Pearl District, a former warehouse and light industrial area just north of downtown. The streetcar has helped generate a high-quality urban environment in the district and reportedly has a ridership 700 percent higher than buses on the same routes.
Nor, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, is Portland the only city where new streetcar lines have spurred substantial development. In Tampa, $2 billion in development is completed, under construction, or planned near a recent streetcar line.
Consequently, the Seaside Institute is joining with Reconnecting America, the American Public Transportation Association, and the Community Streetcar Coalition to offer workshops across the US promoting the introduction of new streetcar systems. The first of the one-day workshops will take place July 27 at Portland State University. Later sessions are scheduled for Sept. 6 in Denver and Oct. 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
first modern streetcar system
The Institute describes the Portland Streetcar as the first modern streetcar system installed in an American city. The system connects the Pearl District to downtown and to the redeveloping South Waterfront. In the Pearl District, 7,248 housing units have been constructed, 25 percent of them affordable, enabling Portland to achieve its 20-year housing goal in just seven years.
In the South Waterfront, where four residential towers have broken ground, redevelopment is expected to generate 3,000 housing units and 5,000 jobs. Development there is encouraged not only by the streetcar but also by an aerial tram linking the South Waterfront to the hilltop Oregon Health & Science University.
Streetcars promote street life, serve as image-makers for their neighborhoods, and provide an amenity and attraction, the Institute says. Most of their installation cost can be borne by developers, leaving minimal cost to municipalities, according to the Institute.
“Some 80 to 90 communities across the US are now beginning to understand the relationship between modern streetcar systems and the vitality of their downtowns,” says Rick Gustafson, executive director of Portland Streetcar. Gustafson recently was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, encouraging that city to start a build a streetcar system. Grand Rapids has been pondering that possibility for years.
Among the topics discussed in the workshops are streetcar-oriented development and developer agreements that help cities leverage public objectives, ranging from affordability to open space. A workshop may also be conducted in the upper Midwest. For more information, click on www.theseasideinstitute.org.