Lancaster — Streetcar Plan Moving Fast

Rail Transit Online, February 2007

City officials are planning to apply for federal and state funds within the next few months to finance construction of a seven-mile (11.3 km) streetcar line running north-south along Queen and Prince streets from the Amtrak station to South Queen and Vine streets plus a spur along existing railroad tracks to Harrisburg Avenue at Long’s Park.  There is strong political support for the project, led by Mayor Rick Gray who believes streetcars can stimulate economic development and ease traffic congestion in the downtown area.  “It has the ability to shrink the city and make the city more walkable, so people won’t need a car to get around,” Gray told the Lancaster New Era.  “It has definite advantages, if we can figure out the funding.”  Gray estimates the price tag at $22.5 million, up to 80 percent of which could come from the federal government’s new Small Starts program, which requires the per-mile cost to be under $3 million.  The remainder would come from the state of Pennsylvania and the private sector.  The local Red Rose Transit Authority had been studying a shorter downtown circulator route but the city added the Long’s Park segment to bring down the average per-mile cost, qualifying the line for Small Starts.  Lancaster’s first streetcar system was scrapped in 1947.