The Regional Transit Authority board on Feb. 20 awarded a
$3.76-million consulting contract to Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas
Inc. for preliminary engineering and an environmental impact study for the
Desire Corridor streetcar project. If built, the line would link the Central
Business District with the Industrial Canal along North Rampart Street and St.
Claude Avenue. Once environmental work is completed and design has been
brought up to the 30-percent level, the RTA can seek federal funding. It’s
hoped that the FTA will agree to provide up to 70 percent of the project's
$115.3-million price. The line would be operated by 14 homebuilt vintage
streetcar replicas similar to the 24 units equipped with PCC type trucks,
motors and controls now being prepared for the Canal Street route,
construction of which is slated to begin later this year. RTA wants to start
work on Desire shortly after Canal is completed in mid-2004, providing enough
time to complete the EIR and final design. Revenue service would start in
2006. The name for the new route was chosen to invoke nostalgia for the long
abandoned Desire Street line, made famous by the 1947 Tennessee Williams play.
A plaque is planned at the intersection where the new tracks will cross
Desire.
