The selection of the Market Street route had been anticipated, but today's announcement allows the Delaware River Port Authority to proceed with environmental reviews and preliminary engineering.
If the DRPA can find the estimated $500 million for the project, trolleys could be operating by 2016. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) said yesterday he would seek federal funding to help pay for the project.
The waterfront light rail line would operate on tracks in the middle of Columbus Boulevard from Pier 70 at the south end to Girard Avenue at the north. The route would provide service between the two casinos planned for the waterfront, Foxwoods in the south and SugarHouse in the north. A Market Street light rail line would run from City Hall to the waterfront.
Many questions remain, including what agency - SEPTA or PATCO - would operate the trolley lines, how the lines would get over or under I-95, how the waterfront and Market Street lines would connect.
Nonetheless, the decision to proceed with a Market Street route "is very exciting," said Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation. "This has the ability to be transformational...I'm interested less in running trains along the river for tourists and more in connecting to the main transit systems."
Some planners have objected that a Market Street trolley line would snarl traffic and duplicate service already offered by the Market-Frankford subway.
"There is some duplication," Cutler said today. "But my instinct is there is not as much duplication as you might think." She said a trolley line "is certainly our preference."
U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), who also attended today's briefing, said she was concerned that the light rail lines not duplicate existing service and do provide a seamless link to existing transit.
"It may be a better use of public dollars to spend the money to link light rail along the waterfront with the Market-Frankford line, at either Second Street or Fourth Street," Schwartz said. "These cannot be solely a casino-to-casino line along Delaware Avenue."
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