Issaquah climbs aboard growing streetcar line

Television's Mister Rogers didn't drive a truck or hop the bus to reach the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. He used a red trolley, whistle whistling and bell a-clanging, that connected his neighborhood to his destination.

Spurred by some of that nostalgia, as well as soaring gas prices and clogged streets, more than 80 communities around the country — from Issaquah to Miami — are looking to streetcars to ease downtown gridlock, connect tourist attractions and encourage development.

Congress gave the movement a supportive push this summer with Small Starts, a new federal grant program designed to help fund smaller, cheaper transit projects like streetcar lines and bus rapid transit.

It also earmarked money for individual projects, including $200,000 for the Issaquah Historical Society's mile-long Issaquah Valley Trolley line. That's money enough for volunteers to update the old tracks along the route between the Gilman Village shopping center and downtown's historic train depot, and to restore one vintage car for service — a red-and-cream trolley that once carried passengers in Lisbon, Portugal.

In June, Seattle leaders voted to move forward with a proposed $47.5 million streetcar line that would roll past developer Paul Allen's planned South Lake Union biotech center. Woodinville's tourism task force has discussed using trolleys to connect the city's downtown and its popular wineries.

In Yakima, streetcar supporters hope to unearth a buried set of tracks that could connect their long-running line to North Front Street, where an economic-development effort is rehabilitating the historic area. And in Tacoma, ridership on Sound Transit's free streetcars has grown since they started running in 2003.

The federal transportation bill also includes a $4 million grant for Oregon Iron Works to build a prototype streetcar that could be used in cities around the country. Many streetcars now are imported new from Europe or inherited from systems around the world

Like many of their counterparts in the U.S., Issaquah enthusiasts say streetcars could lure people who otherwise wouldn't take on ubiquitous gridlock in their cars for lunch, shopping or a trip to the library. They want to extend the line eventually several miles to reach major businesses and the East Lake Sammamish Trail.

"We are using this little line as a demonstrator for what rail transportation can be on the Eastside," said J. Craig Thorpe a leader of the trolley effort and an artist who paints railroad scenes for transportation agencies. "It is a small picture of a very big reality."

Issaquah's trolley effort began the way it does in a lot of cities. A major railroad stopped using a rail corridor that ran through downtown. The historical society wondered how to preserve this piece of city history. The city bought a mile of the old track. Volunteers formed a group, conducted a feasibility study and started raising money. Yakima loaned one of its streetcars to help. In 2001 the Issaquah Valley Trolley began operating on weekends.

The effort stalled in 2002, the due date for the trolley to return to Yakima. In the meantime, the group obtained three vintage cars. With the help of the federal grant, it intends to get the line running within months, Thorpe said.

Why the fascination with a mode of transportation once considered by many to be, well, outmoded?

Trolleys run by private companies once coursed through neighborhoods around the country, pulled by horses and later powered by electricity. They eventually faded away as cars grew more popular and streets became more crowded. New Orleans and San Francisco are among the few cities that have continuously relied on them as part of the transportation mix.

Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington, said trolleys can fill a niche for dense communities with limited space for parking and road widening. He expects trolleys, as well as other public transportation, to grow more common as gas prices climb and cities become more dense.

Unlike buses, most trolleys run on electricity. They also don't leave their set routes, which fans call a comfort and a boon for development, and critics deride as a waste of money compared to buses that can be sent where needed.

But streetcars have a different ambience than buses, supporters say.

"Streetcars have this wonderful ability to be pleasant to be around. They're not spewing exhaust at you. They're easy to get on. For the most part, they have the advantage over a bus that, like in all rail systems, people have great confidence that there's another one coming. They know where it will go," Hallenbeck said.

In Little Rock, Ark., a recently completed streetcar line connects downtown with North Little Rock and the Clinton Presidential Library. Atlanta is looking at streetcars to get workers and tourists to restaurants and museums along Peachtree Street. And in Miami, officials are considering a 6.7-mile line linking colleges, nightclubs and the design district.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., part of a streetcar coalition in Congress, calls streetcars a magnet for private investment, pointing to the streetcar-served condos and businesses in Portland's thriving Pearl District neighborhood.

But trolleys also have their downsides, Hallenbeck said. They're slow. Those with tracks along regular car lanes can get stuck in traffic and create more traffic. They're inflexible: Once new track is laid it's pricey to pull it back up and lay it elsewhere. Critics of Seattle's South Lake Union line, for example, say money would be better spent improving bus service or building a streetcar line that connects more neighborhoods.

"If land use changes to make [a neighborhood] not attractive, then you spent a lot of money building tracks where no one wants to ride it," Hallenbeck said.

Still, it appears more could be on the way. Starting in 2007, Small Starts will provide $200 million in grants each year, allowing streetcars and other small projects (those generally costing $25 million to $75 million) to compete against each other for funds rather than against freeway and other projects that can run in the hundreds of millions.

There's no similar funding program at the state level, said Ron Sheck, urban-rail program manager for the state Department of Transportation, though the Legislature has appropriated money for specific projects in the past.

Sheck, who served as a consultant on a streetcar project in Tampa, Fla., and worked with Issaquah's project, said he expects to see expansion of lines in the coming years in more communities.

"People are highly networked. They see what happens in one community, and they wonder, 'Can we apply that here?' " Sheck said. "We ripped it all out, and now we're spending millions to put it all back in."

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com