[MarignyBywater] Proposed alignment for Streetcar on North Rampart

[alan_drake at juno.com]

Below is my comment submitted to RTA for their proposed streetcar extension.  MS Word file and photoshop illustrations available upon request.

If you like the ideas, please forward them.

Best Hopes,

Alan_Drake at Juno.com

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Streetcar and Bicycle Lane Alignment on North Rampart & McShane Place [McShane Place is connector between Rampart & St. Claude]

A bit of project history

RTA “pulled the plug” on the Parsons Brinkerhoff study of the Desire Streetcar Line after they failed to find an acceptable alignment along North Rampart Street.

The smaller issue is that WB Allen said that they would move out of New Orleans if their loading dock access on Basin Street was blocked by streetcar tracks.

The larger issue was that PB could not/did not present an alignment that was acceptable to both Treme and the Vieux Carre.  Meanwhile the consulting fees climbed and RTA called a halt.

Francis Berger (then a Public Works engineer for the City of New Orleans, now LaDOT) and I then came up with an alignment that meet universal approval.  Francis formally presented the alignment to the Vieux Carre Commission and got their approval.  I talked with several Treme organizations and got the same approval.  Public Works reviewed it and liked it. 

In addition, Gentilly and Marigny/Bywater organizations as well as bicycle advocacy organizations approved since it would serve as the start of both the Desire and Elysian Fields streetcar lines. Bicycle advocacy groups also strongly approved of a safer Rampart Street (site of at least two bike fatalities).  Today, the Rampart/McShane bike lanes would seamlessly integrate with the St. Claude bike lanes.

Two “photo-shop” illustrations of our proposed alignment are included (made by a City Planning employee after hours on city equipment).

The overall concept is to:

1) Widen the neutral ground from roughly 21’ to 35’.

2) Run two streetcar tracks in the neutral ground between two rows of historic 3 lamp poles.  Similar to the CBD section of Canal, but with grass running and cypress trees instead of concrete and palm trees.

3) Have one traffic lane and one bike lane on each side instead of two traffic lanes.#

4) In order to have adequate distance for a parking lane, the sidewalk would be encroached on for roughly 7 inches where there was not an overhanging balcony.

5) Where an overhanging balcony did exist, the curb would move out roughly 6 feet and a small garden created.  Limited bicycle parking would be included in the garden area.

6) RTA bus stops on North Rampart & McShane Place would be reduced to one every 3 or 4 blocks and the taxi stand in front of Armstrong Park would be reworked for more auto parking.  Net loss of car parking, zero to roughly 8 spaces.

7) Stop light priority for streetcars, hopefully on every route, but specifically on Rampart Street.

# A 2002 or 2003 traffic count indicated that about 100 vehicles/hour during rush hours would have to divert to Claiborne & Basin from North Rampart.  This assumes no loss of traffic demand due to the streetcar and improved bicycling.  Post-Katrina, one can safely assume that two of the four traffic lanes on North Rampart are surplus and unneeded, since much of the traffic was commuters from St. Bernard Parish, the 9th Ward and Gentilly and all have lost significant population.

Other design details :

1) A “Grand Union” junction at St. Claude and Elysian Fields.  A few feet of stub rail promising an Elysian Fields line from the Lake to the River and the Desire Line.  Superfluous switches could be empty boxes to save costs in Phase 1. (A Grand Union junction allows right or left turns, or straight ahead, from each of the 4 directions).  Such a junction would allow continued operations during Mardi Gras and other celebrations once the Desire and Elysian Fields Streetcar Lines are finished.

2) A loop down Elysian Fields and connecting with the Riverfront Line terminus.  I walked this with Drew Wands of Boh Bros. and we determined that one flood gate will likely have to be expanded or a new one added.  The elevation of the track at the terminus is less than ideal but can be worked with. Preserving trees on Elysian Fields will require a less than lowest cost track alignment, but quite doable.

3) Lower the speed limit on Rampart to 25 or 30 mph.  Good for a multi-use avenue and would divert some commuter traffic to Claiborne and Basin..

Underground Utilities

A review of underground utilities found an underground electrical vault near the intersection of Rampart/McShane and St. Roch.  The rough estimate is that a 1 foot by 2 foot triangle would need to be bridged over (underground bridge) or gauntlet track used.

Since Rampart and St. Claude had an operating streetcar till 1948 and Elysian Fields an operating railroad till 1950, both were notably devoid of other significant underground utilities.

Proposed Construction Agreement

The City of New Orleans Public Works likes to totally renew the street and all underground utilities about every 110 years.  Recent such renewals were Esplanade, Chartres (Bywater) and Prytania.  North Rampart Street is approaching the time for total renewal. Existing collaborative endeavor agreements with the Sewage and Water Board allow Public Works to rebuild water and sewer lines as part of road work and simply send SW&B a bill.

The City owns the streets and can, and occasional has, asked Entergy (or Cox) to simply relocate their facilities at their cost. This is a major potential cost and time savings. 

The Public Works Department has long standing and constant interactions with local contractors, surveyors, engineers and suppliers and does not require as much consulting assistance as RTA did during the Canal Streetcar Line build.  From memory, the total consulting bill (for all phases) of Canal Streetcar Line was between 25% and 30% of the total cost. This difference is simply the difference between constantly building, as Public Works does, and a doing a major project once every decade or so, as RTA does.

Public Works was interested in building the streetcar tracks down North Rampart as part of a larger re-build of the street, water and sewer included.  Since grass is cheaper than asphalt, the savings from the reduced road surface area roughly balanced the cost of building the tracks, with an extra cost of only one or two million dollars for the tracks from Canal to Elysian Fields on North Rampart/McShane.  So rebuilding North Rampart with a streetcar would cost little more than rebuilding it without !

A variety of funding sources were discussed.  For example, the first block is within the Downtown Development District and involves some extensive special track work.  It was hoped that DDD could provide the matching funds for that block.

Some innovative approaches to track construction were also discussed.  Alan Drake attended a 3 day mini-course at Portland State University to understand the “Portland Method” of building 3 blocks of track in 3 weeks for $300/ft.  A recently retired structural engineer suggested some innovations in the concrete profile, or composite plastic ties could be used, comparable to the plans for St. Charles.

Surplus, or increased, electrical capacity at the Canal SIS (from memory, the third DC inverter devoted to the yard) could feed the Desire Loop via wooden poles down the Lafitte Corridor.  Drew Wands of Boh Bros. had several “lessons learned” from the construction of the Canal Streetcar Line and work on the Riverfront and St. Charles Lines.

There is no need to start from scratch.  New Orleans has developed a range of experience and capabilities.
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The Secretary of Transportation was given $1.5 billion in discretionary funding for Urban Rail projects as part of the stimulus bill. There are few conditions on these funds, just no more than $300 million for any one state and the projects must be completed within 3 years.  

Below are some reasons to fund the Desire Loop with Discretionary Funds (not in order of importance).

1) It is beautiful !  Do not underestimate the impact of aesthetics on decision making.

2) It would transform an important historic street from a post-WW II auto-centric corridor to a multi-use streetcar and bicycle boulevard.  A major plus environmentally and for energy/oil conservation.

3) Use the Desire name, call it the Desire Loop.  Additional emotional appeal.

4) It would benefit people from across the nation when they visited New Orleans and provide a real world example that they could take back home.  A functional example of efficient Non-Oil Transportation; walking, bicycling and streetcars working together.

5) The Desire Loop will serve an important transit market that cannot be served by bus.

6) FTA approved ridership estimates will grossly underestimate ridership. Locals who would love an alternative to parking in the Quarter and many foot sore tourists would love to get easily and elegantly to the other side.

7) It would serve as a start for both the Elysian Fields and Desire Lines and as an essential core of a 35 mile streetcar network that would almost completely replace buses in Orleans Parish.

8) It would set a precedent for cost effective intra-governmental collaborative agreements that combine rebuilding streets and building streetcar lines.  A model for the nation !

9) It would set a precedent for taking surplus traffic lanes and devoting them to much higher density streetcar tracks (and bike lanes).

10) Broad based community support for a pro bono publico design by local engineers.

Best Hopes,

Alan Drake (with concurrence by Francis Berger)




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