St. Charles Avenue streetcars win federal stimulus cash

St. Charles Avenue streetcars win federal stimulus cash
Friday June 19, 2009
by Bruce Eggler
The Times-Picayune

f you live in Uptown New Orleans, part of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package is coming soon to a streetcar line near you.
The Times-Picayune archiveThe U.S. Transportation Department announced Friday that the Regional Transit Authority will get $2.4 million in federal stimulus money to improve the St. Charles Avenue line.

The U.S. Transportation Department announced Friday that the Regional Transit Authority will receive $2.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money to improve the St. Charles Avenue line.

The money will be used to expedite the replacement of crossties and to perform vehicle maintenance. The line's decaying wooden ties will be replaced with composite ties that are expected to last 50 years, officials said.

After completing a major rehabilitation of the St. Charles line 20 years ago, RTA officials said they hoped the track would not need any major repairs for 25 to 50 years.

They said the new line featured ties of tropical hardwood in place of the former pine or oak; an "envelope" of geotextile fabric around the ballast and ties to prevent deterioration, contamination and corrosion; and granite ballast in place of the old limestone, which became compacted, preventing proper drainage, and in places practically disappeared.

The St. Charles line is one of the few rail lines in the world where the track bed is covered by soil and grass, with only the top of the track visible.

The stimulus package included a total of $8.4 billion for capital improvements to transit systems. The Federal Transit Administration has made $1.44 billion available to 28 states since President Barack Obama signed the law on Feb. 17.

"There is a positive economic multiplier effect each time a recovery grant is awarded, " Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday. "The transit agency can now advertise for contracts, contractors can then begin hiring workers, and workers can begin spending the money they earn, putting it back into the economy. That's economic stimulus."

RTA leaders also are hoping to get money from the stimulus package for three new streetcar lines along the North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue corridor, Loyola Avenue and Convention Center Boulevard.

The lines are projected to cost a total of $200 million.