Brooklyn — Streetcars May Return to Brooklyn

Rail Transit Online, Brooklyn 2010

A consultant will be selected shortly to determine whether it might be feasible to return streetcars to downtown Brooklyn. The proposed line would only be about one mile long (1.6 km) and would connect the waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook with Brooklyn Bridge Park at Atlantic Avenue, close to several subway and bus lines. A half-mile (0.8 km) eastern extension would bring the tracks to the transit hub at Borough Hall.

The six-month study will be financed by a $300,000 federal grant that's been available for five years but ignored by the city Department of Transportation. The congresswoman who represents the area, Democrat Nydia Velazquez, said the project is vital to Red Hook, which has no subway service and only limited bus connections. Velazquez has asked for a $10-million federal grant that could be used for construction.

Brooklyn has a long history of street railways and hosted the first PCC car in revenue service in 1936.