The Oklahoma City Council on Tuesday agreed on a route for the $94.4 million downtown streetcar, one of the biggest of the voter-approved MAPS 3 construction projects.
Voters approved MAPS 3 in 2009, agreeing to a penny sales tax increase to promote economic development.
The 4.6-mile modern streetcar line is to run in a loop through Oklahoma City's central business district. It will tie together the fast-growing MidTown business and residential district and the Bricktown entertainment district.
Coupled with the Bricktown Landing boat dock and trails, the streetcar will create a link via rail, boat, bicycle and on foot to the Boathouse District and beyond, opening the Oklahoma River to further development.
I think it will kick off the next 20 years of growth in our city, said Nathaniel Harding, chairman of a MAPS 3 streetcar advisory panel that worked several years to craft the proposed route.
The route would connect downtown's transit center, Automobile Alley and MidTown, the planned MAPS 3 convention center, a new transit hub at the old Santa Fe Depot, and the Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the NBA's Thunder. Tracks would come within a block of the planned MAPS 3 downtown park.
For entire article: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-council-gives-streetcar-route-the-go-ahead/article/3886343
I've never really like the idea of mass transit in OKC before. But with all the new development down there this is beginning to make sense.
Voters approved MAPS 3 in 2009, agreeing to a penny sales tax increase to promote economic development.
The 4.6-mile modern streetcar line is to run in a loop through Oklahoma City's central business district. It will tie together the fast-growing MidTown business and residential district and the Bricktown entertainment district.
Coupled with the Bricktown Landing boat dock and trails, the streetcar will create a link via rail, boat, bicycle and on foot to the Boathouse District and beyond, opening the Oklahoma River to further development.
I think it will kick off the next 20 years of growth in our city, said Nathaniel Harding, chairman of a MAPS 3 streetcar advisory panel that worked several years to craft the proposed route.
The route would connect downtown's transit center, Automobile Alley and MidTown, the planned MAPS 3 convention center, a new transit hub at the old Santa Fe Depot, and the Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the NBA's Thunder. Tracks would come within a block of the planned MAPS 3 downtown park.
For entire article: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-council-gives-streetcar-route-the-go-ahead/article/3886343
I've never really like the idea of mass transit in OKC before. But with all the new development down there this is beginning to make sense.
