Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Construction Begins at Spingarn Car Barn

We are entering the final stretch on the streetcar construction. Here's the the latest:

Construction Starts at Car Barn Training Center Site
Phase One of Two Begins This Week

(Washington, D.C.)  — The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will start work at the new Car Barn Training Center (CBTC) site, located at the corner of 26th Street and Benning Road, NE, this week. The old library kiosk will be demolished as the first piece visible activity. Grading, or leveling of soil, and utility work may also start this week.

The CBTC will be built in two phases. Phase 1 will include the tracks and temporary facilities necessary to support system testing and certification for initial passenger service. Phase 2 construction is expected to begin this fall. This phase will include the actual Car Barn Training Center building, which will include space designated for community use. By phasing construction in this way, the District will be able to provide passenger service prior to the completion of the CBTC facility.

For more information on the DC Streetcar program, please visit www.dcstreetcar.com.

5 comments:

pat said...

i believe in the street car but the barn location was really poor.

The springarn lawn is a true greenfield.

if the city had laid alittle more rail and set up the car barn at the old trash transfer station, it would leave the springarn lawn pristine or available for higher end developement.

Anonymous said...

That's all well and good, but this is a done deal. Meetings were had, teeth were gnashed, neighbors screamed, children wept, and in the end this was deemed the best option available at the time. Nothing ever gets 100% consensus. And "higher end development" would very likely have rendered that "greenfield" either buried under an 11 story condo or walled off and available only to residents. Time to move on - this has been decided.

Anonymous said...

ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων!!!!

pat said...

Anon

what was the reasoning for this?

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish.

To avoid spending a few bucks today, the city will pass up on big bucks tomorrow.

If the city is serious abotu doing a one city line,
the track is going out to benning and east capitol. So it's not like track won't go further.

And the acquisition costs on the trash transfer station also meant the gained benefit of letting people walk from Minn ave orange line over to the trolley.

The trolley has been suffering from this penny wise mindset the whole program.

Why wasn't it installed into Union station? Ultimately they didn't want to spend the money when the window was open to do so. Ending at the dock 21 would have been just about ideal as intermodal transit.

Same thing on the other end. By connecting between the Orange and Red lines, there would have been much higher value to the users and the city.

DDoT was generally incompetent and uncaring to see that the funds invested went into a useful outcome.

It's a pity that the key anchors were not tied in, because that would provide real benefit to the city.

Anonymous said...

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Or, at least, enough finger strength to keep typing about my disagreement and displeasure for years and years and years.