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Albuquerque - March 2006
   

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Albuquerque — Streetcar Plan

Rail Transit Online, March 2006

City officials are ramping up planning for a modern streetcar system that would start with a four-mile (6.4 km), $120-million downtown corridor along Central Avenue linking Old Town and Nob Hill.  Championing the plan is Mayor Martin Chávez who is lobbying the state legislature to provide about half the funding.  “Eventually, we will seek federal participation,” Greg Payne, director of the city's Transit Department, told the Albuquerque Journal.  “But, for the initial phase, we've decided that, in order to put this project on the fast track, we will seek a combination of state and local funding.”  Payne added that, given the increasing competition for federal financing of rail transit schemes, there is no guarantee that Albuquerque would even qualify for a grant.  Current monthly bus ridership on Central is over 286,000 and growing, which transit officials believe is the threshold for a rail system.  A draft environmental impact statement is scheduled to be completed soon and Chavez says he hopes to have the line ready in about three years. 

 

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