Toledo, OH — Downtown Streetcar
Rail Transit Online, October 2005
The Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority board of
directors on Sept. 1 placed its stamp of approval on a Regional Core
Circulator Study that includes a downtown streetcar line linking the Erie
Street Market, a new transportation center at Cherry Street and Greenbelt
Parkway and the Toledo Museum of Art. The route would include parts of
Monroe Street and either Dorr or Bancroft streets (see RTOL, Jan. 2005).
The $100,000 study, completed by Wilbur Smith Associates for the Toledo
Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, states that streetcars would
create “…a unique themed attraction and downtown transit distribution and
circulation service” providing “…an attractive and fun alternative to
driving short distances” between restaurants, offices, and entertainment
venues. The entire program, including traffic improvements, would cost an
estimated $57.5 million, with $41.6 million coming from federal coffers.
However, no funding has been sought and completion is six to 10 years away.
The report also called for a long-term plan to connect downtown and a future
University of Toledo Research and Technology Corridor along an existing but
partly disused railroad right-of-way that would also serve Toledo Hospital,
two colleges and an industrial park. |
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