The Atlanta Streetcar project, an initiative the Center has publicly backed, broke ground this month in Downtown Atlanta with Mayor Reed and US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.   We’re excited about this project because it will bring connectivity and vitality to the Auburn Avenue corridor that birthed the Civil Rights Movement, and will bring visitors to Center’s doorstep at Centennial Olympic Park.    The connection between historical features and next generation development is essential if we are to move forward without forgetting our past, and many cities, not just Atlanta, favor the streetcar as the preferred model for doing just that. 

The streetcar was the ubiquitous way to get around an urban space from the 1800’s until after World War II, when producing, purchasing and driving an automobile became the most popular mode of transportation—homes in the suburbs, segregation, desire for personal property and privacy are just some of the factors that led to the car’s dominance.  Fast forward a few decades to long commutes, hectic days and epic air pollution and streetcars are experiencing what Secretary LaHood called “a revival” in his blog.  He went on to say, “ Streetcars foster livability.  They connect urban destinations and spur redevelopment of urban spaces into walkable mixed use, high-density communities.  Transportation projects like streetcars spark America’s neighborhoods into become safer, healthier and more vibrant.  In fact, in several cities, streetcars are reviving some of the very same neighborhoods they once helped create.”

We like a good revival in the South, and the Atlanta Streetcar is worthy.  It will offer affordable, user-friendly, appealing transportation options Downtown in the near term, and intown neighborhood commute alternatives as the project grows and develops over time. Opponents of streetcars call them expensive, and fault them for social engineering, restricting development and creating false demand.   Not so.  A street car is a tool that makes sense in a situations where intimate, historical neighborhoods are in need of connectivity, without desire or capacity for additional parking, bus routes or train tracks.  Also, they target redevelopment in beloved but neglected areas, providing a needed economic boost to small business owners considering a venture along the route.  When it comes to streetcars, what’s old is new again, and, like civil and human rights movements themselves, we can garner  best practices from what has worked for our communities in the past. 

For more information on streetcars, visit www.reconnectingamerica.org, or review their Street Smart primer, here.