Streetcar group ready to unveil study

Supporters who envision a new streetcar system in Colorado Springs plan to release their feasibility study this week, then ask the City Council to bless the group’s next step: finding ways to pay for the system.

The Colorado Springs Streetcar Feasibility Task Force has spent the past year studying the notion of an electric streetcar system in and around downtown Colorado Springs.
The group plans to unveil a working draft of its study by Friday on www.CSstreetcar.com, then present their findings to the City Council on June 21.

Boosters say streetcars would spur economic development in Colorado Springs and draw tourists downtown. They propose starting with 3.85 miles of track in and around downtown. Later, more than 40 miles of tracks could reach as far as the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to the north and Fort Carson to the south. Another expansion could extend the line to Manitou Springs on the west side and to Academy Boulevard to the east.

“Streetcars, in a city after the streetcars have been built, are an incredible incentive for development,” said Val Snider, chairman of the streetcar group.

Building the downtown stretch would cost an estimated $67 million, with money coming from federal grants and funding from the Downtown Development Authority, he said. The authority was approved by voters in 2006 to encourage development in downtown Colorado Springs.

No city money or additional taxes would be used to build the streetcar system, Snider said. Money to operate the system could come from the authority, the Business Improvement District, tax-increment financing, fares and other sources, he said.

In its next phase, the group plans to study the best routes for a streetcar system and pursue funding.

The task force is a citizen-driven initiative using a federal planning grant to pay for the study as well as money from Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the Downtown Development Authority, the Business Improvement District, the Urban Renewal Authority, Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, the Old North End Neighborhood Association and Bircham’s.

The study is being conducted by Mountain Metropolitan Transit, the city’s bus service.
Colorado Springs had streetcars serving downtown, the west side and Manitou Springs from 1887 to 1932. Since then, reviving the streetcar system has never progressed beyond discussions because of problems ranging from a lack of money to the difficulty of moving utility lines buried under streets.