Birmingham — Streetcars RFQ Issued

Rail Transit Online, May 2008

The Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority has issued a Request For Qualifications on a design-build contract for a proposed 2.2-mi. (3.54 km), $33-million downtown heritage streetcar line. The winning bidder would provide design, construction and administrative services based on a concept to be developed by the contractor and approved by the authority's board of directors.

Revenue service would be provided on an approximately 2-mi. (3.2 km) route beginning on 19th Street north of 9th Avenue and continuing to Morris Avenue. The track would then run along Morris Avenue to an intermodal terminal at 17th Street. Another 0.2-mi. (0.32 km) segment would connect to a new streetcar maintenance facility on Powell Avenue between 18th Street and 19th Street that could house up to 10 streetcars.

City officials led by Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford are planning a trip to Milan, Italy, in September to purchase up to 10 vintage Peter Witt cars dating from the late 1920s. The trolleys would serve a number of cultural venues, including the Birmingham Museum of Art, and would pass the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Langford hopes construction could begin in early November and be finished within 18 months.