Council to Choose Trolley Route

Update:
City Council has postponed the agenda item and it will now be heard at the June 5, 2012 meeting.

Original Post:
The City could choose the new Downtown to UTEP streetcar route at the upcoming May 29, 2012 Council meeting. URS Corporation, the firm previously chosen to complete the environmental and engineering phases of the new streetcar route, will present what it feels is the optimal route based on previous El Paso streetcar studies.

Route options include:

1. Mesa/Oregon - The trolley would travel north on Mesa, turn west on Glory Road, and travel south on Oregon to Downtown.
2. Mesa/Stanton - North on Stanton, west on Glory Road, south on Oregon, east on Cincinnati, and south on Mesa to Downtown, then switching to south on Oregon to the Santa Fe bridge.
3. Oregon Only - The majority of the route would travel north and south on Oregon.
4. Mesa Only - The majority of the route would travel north and south on Mesa.
5. (Alternative) Stanton Only - The City has mentioned using Stanton for the route. Oregon is currently being readied for the Bus Rapid Transit system, and the City has spent millions revamping the street. Stanton would benefit from the streetcar route because it would allow the City to reconstruct it entirely. This route is not mentioned in the previous study.

The environmental study must be completed by the end of September 2012 in order to qualify for $90M in fund from the Texas Department of Transportation.

Previously - Trolley Project Could Get $90M in TxDOT Funds: http://elpasodevnews.blogspot.com/2012/05/trolley-project-could-get-90m-in-txdot.html

Cambridge Systematics Rail Study (Large PDF): http://50.22.88.223/~epmpo/Rail/RailTransitStudy.pdf