Streetcar desire is strong in downtown Springs

It would make sense that any talk of streetcars in Colorado Springs skidded to a halt with the economy.

After all, the city just slashed its funding of bus service from $8.7 million to $2.6 million, plans to lay off 73 transit workers this month, and cut total bus service hours in half.

But a plan for local streetcars keeps trundling on.

“The street car project would not be where it is now, probably, without the city’s lack of funds,” said Chris Martinez, Mountain Metro Transit’s senior grant analyst.

Here’s why: The federal government gives millions of dollars in transportation grants to Colorado communities every year, but the communities must match the grants with some cash.

“But in these bad economic times, they don’t have any matching dollars,” Martinez said.

In stepped a small group of streetcar advocates that includes Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the Downtown Development Authority, and Bircham’s Office Products. They pooled $58,000 in donations to snag $330,000 in grants that usually go to Colorado Springs.

The Old North End Homeowners Association, which is funded by voluntary $35 memberships, gave $1,000 to the effort.

“It was attractive to us because it would give members a way to get to work, ease traffic and maybe increase property values,” said Dave Munger, an association board member. “And people also wanted to help the environment.”

The grants paid for a feasibility study, which will determine where streetcar lines should go, projected ridership, and how the community would pay for construction and upkeep.

It is estimated a streetcar line would cost between $3 million and $20 million per mile to build, and would take at least five years to develop.

The feasibility study started this fall and is expected to finish in May.

“The economy is going to come back, so are high gas prices. We want to have a plan ready for when that time comes,” said Rich Guy, a board member of the Downtown Development Authority, owner of Computer Systems Resources, and the chief fundraiser for the streetcar project.

His vision is a rail line running through downtown from I-25 and Tejon Street to UCCS. The system could expand from there.

“The return on investment and economic impact of it would be enormous,” said Guy. “Property values go up, you attract tourists and businesses, and you have all sorts of chances for development.”

Unlike bus lines, streetcar lines have a permanence that developers find attractive, Guy said.

Studies show Tampa, Fla., and Little Rock, Ark., which recently built streetcar systems, are seeing booming returns. One study by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development suggested the return on investment, in terms of development near tracks, is between 920 percent and 7,500 percent.

The lure of economic development has spurred streetcar projects in 75 other cities nationwide. Voters in Oklahoma City, Cincinnati and Boise, Idaho, approved projects in November.

Colorado Springs has been down the trolley track before.

In the early 1900s the city had 41 miles of streetcar rails. Streetcar service ended in 1932.

In 1997, voters gave a nonprofit group of streetcar buffs called the Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation license to develop, build and operate a trolley system along West Colorado Avenue. Lack of funding and other speed bumps stalled the project.

But the foundation’s historic trolleys are undergoing restoration and members support the current study.