Plans for a D.C. streetcar are getting more costly, now that the route for the cars has been changed.
The route will be changed so it goes to Martin Luther King Boulevard and Good Hope Road, an area of Anacostia not served by Metrorail.
The change will cost the city $1 million. The original 1.3-mile route covered only Bolling Air Force Base, a route Graham says didn't make sense.
"Before we spend $60 million, I wanted to make sure we had a route that served D.C. residents," says D.C. Council member Jim Graham.
The District will reimburse Metro the $1 million for the materials and equipment problems the delay has cost and for storage of the rail cars in Czech Republic.
Completion is now scheduled for 2012.
In the long run, this “MAY” be a good idea. But only time will tell. I just wish that someone would consider putting $60 million dollars into our schools in DC. If we can get our kids a better education and improve the likelihood of success and competitiveness in this global society, we’d have more locally grown roots – and the more educated the city is across all boundaries, there is less of a likelihood that we’d have communities underserved by Metro or underserved by the business community at-large. I think of it as planting a seed for an oak tree. You won’t see the results tomorrow or next week or next year. But several years down the road, the efforts will pay off and we’ll have the results everyone can be proud of.
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