Local transportation consultant Graham Hill wants Boulder to join the
growing number of communities building or considering heritage streetcars to
alleviate downtown traffic congestion and act as a tourist attraction. Hill
has proposed an approximately four-mile (6.4 km) route, to be called the
Breeze, along Walnut, Pearl and Spruce streets linking the Pearl Street and
Twenty Ninth Street shopping centers. “Here's an opportunity to link the
two most popular districts in the community,” Hill told the Daily Camera.
He has already formed the nonprofit Boulder Breeze organization to promote
the idea, which Hill estimates would cost $25 million to $35 million and
would be modeled after the Portland Streetcar
except for the use of replica antique cars. It could be 50-percent financed
by the federal government, with the remainder coming from the city and
businesses that would be served by the trolley. Hill says he is certain
that Boulder would qualify for federal money under the Community Streetcar
Development and Revitalization Act now pending in Congress. The scheme has
already generated support from local politicians, including Mayor Will Toor.
Streetcars last operated in Boulder 73 years ago.
