The Oklahoma City Streetcar (OKC Streetcar), also known as the MAPS 3 streetcar, is a streetcar system currently under-construction in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. The 6.9-mile (11.1 km) system will serve the greater downtown Oklahoma City area consisting of modern, low-floor streetcars. The initial system would see two lines that will connect Oklahoma City's Central Business District with the entertainment district, Bricktown, and the Midtown District. Expansion to other districts surrounding downtown as well as more routes in the CBD is already underway.
Video Oklahoma City Streetcar
History
The streetcar was first conceived in a 2005 regional transit study known as the Fixed Guideway Study. The concept lay dormant until a local Oklahoma City businessman, inventor, and political activist named Jeff Bezdek promoted the project to the Oklahoma City Council to be considered as part of Metropolitan Area Projects Plan 3 (MAPS 3) program. Bezdek launched a strategic campaign called the Modern Transit Project to generate public support for the initiative. Polling indicated that the streetcar plan had a majority of support from likely voters. The Oklahoma City Council incorporated the concept into the MAPS program.
The system is financed through MAPS 3, a sales tax-financed public works program. The initiative was approved in 2009 via a majority vote by the citizens of Oklahoma City.
On September 29, 2015, the Oklahoma City city council approved the awarding of a $22 million contract to Inekon, of the Czech Republic, for the purchase of five streetcars, as well as spare parts and training. However, after Inekon failed to meet a one-month deadline for submitting required financial-guarantee information, project staff recommended switching to Brookville Equipment Corporation, another manufacturer that had also bid for the order. On November 10, the city council voted its approval for the staff to begin negotiations with Brookville for the streetcar contract. In March 2016, the city reached a final agreement with Brookville to purchase five streetcars, with an option for a sixth, at a cost of $24.9 million. The low-floor design will be Brookville's "Liberty" model. As of February 2017, project officials were predicting that the first car would be delivered in June 2017.
In December 2016, the city council awarded a $50 million contract for rail installation to builders Herzog and Stacy and Witbeck, with construction planned to begin in early 2017 and continue for about two years. The formal groundbreaking for the project took place on February 7, 2017, and the line is projected to open for service in December 2018. The overall cost of the project is $131.8 million.
Maps Oklahoma City Streetcar
Design
The streetcar system is to be of the conventional type using steel rails embedded into city streets, with modern vehicles powered from overhead electric wires. The streetcars are planned to be in use with everyday traffic. Initially, five vehicles are slated to be ordered. A sixth car is slated to be purchased through MAPS 3 with options for six more vehicles beyond the initial purchase. The streetcar vehicles will be required to operate wirelessly for several hundred feet under the existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway bridges that separate downtown Oklahoma City central business district from the Bricktown entertainment district.
Frequency
Streetcars are planned to stop at 8- to 12-minute intervals at designated pedestrian shelters along the 4.6-mile route.
Planned expansion
Major expansion of the Oklahoma City Streetcar system beyond the first phase is already being planned. A steering committee made up of local mayors, city councillors, and other civic leaders approved plans for major expansion from the MAPS 3 system northward up the major thoroughfare Classen Boulevard to the planned 63rd street commuter rail station stop and southward from downtown along Walker to the south 25th street (future) commuter-rail stop in Capitol Hill. Additional plans have also been discussed for streetcar expansion to Oklahoma City University through the historic Plaza District northwest of the initial starter line.
Project oversight
The Oklahoma City Streetcar project as part of the MAPS initiative is overseen by a committee appointed by the mayor and city council of Oklahoma City. The original promoter of the streetcar system, Jeff Bezdek, is appointed to committee along with several other volunteers from the original Modern Transit Project initiative. Recommendations from this committee are formally made to the MAPS 3 oversight board which then makes recommendations to the Oklahoma City Council to be potentially enacted as policy.
See also
- Streetcars in North America
References
External links
- Oklahoma City Streetcar on website of Embark (transit agency)
- Streetcar project web pages on City of Oklahoma City's website
- Route map (on Embark website)
Source of article : Wikipedia
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