Racine, WI

Rail Transit Online, July 2004

A 1998 downtown redevelopment plan now being revised will include a proposed streetcar loop running approximately two miles (3.2 km) with 12 stops, bringing back a travel mode last seen by Racine residents in 1940.  The route would start at a new transit center now under construction, head east on State Street to Main, south to Sixth Street, west to Marquette Street and return to the transit hub.  “Developers want to get next to streetcar stops,” George Crandall of Crandall Arambula, the firm that is revising the downtown plan, told The Journal Times.  “Those are not only convenient...but a powerful incentive for developers.”  Crandall said streetcars, such as those in Portland, are seen as permanent and dependable while bus routes can be changed at any time.  At its height, the Racine trolley system had five routes, the tracks for some of which still exist under the asphalt of downtown streets.