Most local residents apparently favor building a proposed streetcar line
along Shoreline Boulevard despite opposition by some city council members
who have vowed to stop the project unless the route is shifted inland. PB
Consult, which is working on the streetcar for the Regional Transportation
Authority, conducted an opinion poll of 635 Corpus Christi residents and
found that 272 preferred the Shoreline Boulevard alignment, 252 wanted the
tracks on Water and Chaparral streets while 111 thought a hybrid arrangement
using Water Street and Shoreline Boulevard would be best. All of the routes
would be about two miles (3.2 km) long, starting north of the center and
linking the site of a proposed baseball stadium with City Hall. The
trolleys would serve numerous tourist attractions including a museum, an
expanded convention center, a new sport arena and the waterfront restaurant
district. The city council on May 11 passed a resolution in support of the
streetcar line but with a proviso that that tracks not be placed along the
bay front (see RTOL, June 2004). PB Consult is still working on preliminary
engineering and an Environmental Impact Report but company senior vice
president Alan Wulkan says he does not expect to find any significant
impact. The RTA board of directors is scheduled to make a decision on the
$35-million project in August.
