Sacramento — Streetcar Still On Track

Rail Transit Online, July 2010

Failure to obtain federal funding for the proposed modern streetcar line connecting the cities of West Sacramento and Sacramento will not stop the project, according to elected officials from both communities. The $105 million available in FTA grants announced July 8 went instead to cities in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon said he wants to put in a bid for the next round of streetcar grants if there is one. "We're going to get it done," Cabaldon told The Sacramento Press. "It's one of those things that's kind of captured the imagination in the urban core."

There's a lot of work to be done before the project could hope to qualify for money from Washington, primarily in Sacramento which has not yet approved a route. The originally-proposed 2.2-mi. (3.54 km) alignment has been shortened to 1.2-mi. (1.93 km), almost all of it in West Sacramento, because the cost had jumped from $50 million to $69 million.

A spokeswoman for the Sacramento Department of Transportation said money is available for planning the streetcar and a decision on whether to spend it could be made by the city council at its July 27 meeting.