PREFACE
The Lowell National Historical Park (LNHP) and the
City of Lowell (the City) are considering expansion of the LNHP’s historic
trolley line. The impetus for this study is a June 1999 Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) between the National Park Service, the City of Lowell,
the Lowell Regional Transportation Authority (LRTA), the Northern Middlesex
Council of Governments (NMCOG), and the New England Electric Railway
Historical Society (Seashore Trolley Museum). The United States Department
of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center examined
the feasibility of implementing a light rail system reminiscent of late 19th/early
20th Century trolley lines that is consistent with the National
Park Service’s mission, and supports the City’s transportation, economic,
and redevelopment objectives.
The proposed system is
designed to improve mobility in downtown Lowell where streets are narrow and
auto congestion is common. It will connect sites operated by the LNHP, and
provide access to the City’s major activity centers, each of which has been
influential in the City’s economic turnaround: the Gallagher Intermodal
Transportation Center (Gallagher Center), the Paul E. Tsongas Arena (Arena),
LeLacheur Baseball Park (Ballpark), and the University of Massachusetts
Lowell (UMASS-Lowell) campus. An integral component is the construction of a
combination Operations and Maintenance facility/National Street Car Museum
at Lowell. The museum will house vehicles and artifacts from the Seashore
Trolley Museum collection, and possibly transit artifacts from other
streetcar museums nationwide.
Vintage trolley systems
are making a comeback in many cities across the nation, and have had a
substantial positive economic development impacts in several cases. In
Lowell, the proposed routes present the opportunity to enhance development
goals at several key sites suffering from access and parking constraints,
among them the Boott, Massachusetts, Lawrence, and Appleton Mills, the
Dutton Yarn Co., and the site adjacent to the Arena.
This report provides a starting point in the
expansion of the Lowell Historic Trolley system. Moving from the conceptual
design outlined in this report to construction and operation will require
cooperation by a large number of stakeholders, and will also require
identifying funding and addressing regulatory requirements. |
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