KCMO Downtown Streetcar

[DaveKCMO]

is this working?

[KC-wildcat]

It's working for me. I wish I could see which posts were from today and yesterday instead of just the date.

Small thing. But, I liked seeing which threads were active or dormant.

[DaveKCMO]

You have to ugly up part of the place, right?

Yes.  I imagine in practice you'll have to hang catenary along almost all of the route anyway because Li-On batteries charge so slowly. If you're not connected to wires for most of the route, you'll run the batteries down and have to sit somewhere for a long period to charge back up.

according to the manufacturer, the ameriTRAM 300 (what we saw) can charge enough between charging stations to run without catenary for "up to five miles". the proposed route is only 2. they estimate catenary costs $5-6 million per mile.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Curious. Is that "5 miles" with an empty load or fully loaded? Or does it make any difference?

[DaveKCMO]

Curious. Is that "5 miles" with an empty load or fully loaded? Or does it make any difference?

i doubt it makes a difference with a vehicle that size and weight using electric traction (instant torque). they didn't specify, however.

[pash]

.

[DaveKCMO]

i think you're assuming there will be no "quick charges" between terminii. regardless, this is not the actual vehicle vendor anyway. that will be decided next year at the earliest. you can watch it go into operation elsewhere, however, as DC is looking at these to avoid the catenary for other reasons.

nothing to say KC won't end up with a system that's mechanically identical to portland.

[pash]

.

[enough]

the next public meeting for the downtown corridor (aka downtown streetcar) study will be tuesday, september 20, from 4 to 6 pm at the steamboat arabia museum. we should expect to see the comparative analysis of the main and grand alignments, along with the study team's recommendation. a decision is expected to be made at the parking and transportation commission meeting the following day.

[KCMax]

Sounds like Main is the chosen route (h/t DaveKCMO, staubio). Thoughts?

[smh]

Sounds like Main is the chosen route (h/t DaveKCMO, staubio). Thoughts?

Meh.

[KCPowercat]

Very excited.

[smh]

I'm excited for the streetcar, I just have this overwhelming fear that it is going to be stuck in traffic 50% of the time on Main through downtown and be of no real benefit. I felt that a Grand alignment would eliminate some of these concerns. That said, hopefully the street can be configured in such a manner so as to reduce some of the choke points.

[bobbyhawks]

I'm excited for the streetcar, I just have this overwhelming fear that it is going to be stuck in traffic 50% of the time on Main through downtown and be of no real benefit. I felt that a Grand alignment would eliminate some of these concerns. That said, hopefully the street can be configured in such a manner so as to reduce some of the choke points.

I have this overwhelming fear that it is going to be stuck on its way to being built in the first place. Can we grease some palms? Can we get this thing built as quickly as the Broadway bridge over I-670 (at least proportionally)? Hopefully, the buzz from the KCPA opening is enough to provide the political will to accelerate this project beyond another two years of study. I like what the Mayor has stated recently, and moving this forward would be a great start to the new phase of development downtown (and provide incentive for a convention hotel along or near the line).

[mean]

I like what the mayor has said, unfortunately he is not in much of a position to do anything.

[KCMax]

Transit group picks Main Street for possible streetcar route

Main Street was favored over Grand for several reasons, including its proximity to hotels, the convention center and other major attractions.

Some people had opposed operating the streetcars on Grand because of the disruption to the Sprint Center, which is projected to have 21 events this year that will shut down the street.

The MAX rapid bus that runs along Main Street now could possibly move to Grand or Walnut if its presence interferes too much with the streetcars.

City officials said they have heard little opposition to a Main Street starter line.

But officials with the Power & Light downtown entertainment district have raised concerns.

[coreyo]

I'm excited for the streetcar, I just have this overwhelming fear that it is going to be stuck in traffic 50% of the time on Main through downtown and be of no real benefit. I felt that a Grand alignment would eliminate some of these concerns. That said, hopefully the street can be configured in such a manner so as to reduce some of the choke points.

I have this overwhelming fear that it is going to be stuck on its way to being built in the first place. Can we grease some palms? Can we get this thing built as quickly as the Broadway bridge over I-670 (at least proportionally)? Hopefully, the buzz from the KCPA opening is enough to provide the political will to accelerate this project beyond another two years of study. I like what the Mayor has stated recently, and moving this forward would be a great start to the new phase of development downtown (and provide incentive for a convention hotel along or near the line).

I'm amazed that it takes 2 years to build this. It's probably my ignorance but that seems awfully long. What's the short list of what make this kind of project take so long?

[kboish]

that baffles me as well. Is that 2 years of construction time? or two years including getting it on the ballot and other political mumbo jumbo? I thought part of the selling point was that this could be up and running quickly. 2 years seems like enough time to build a light rail to the airport from waldo.

what is the next steps now that they have given a rec? TDD on a local ballot? when will that happen and who puts it there?

[earthling]

it hasn't even been funded yet. this is still just an idea at this point.

[coreyo]

it hasn't even been funded yet. this is still just an idea at this point.

i thought they started building it last week. right after the kauffman opening.



the quote from that article says that once they have funding and start building it'll take 2+ years, could be from 2013-2015. That's with a short timeline for a proposal plan by the end of this year and revisions all of next year to get funding.