The Wave (streetcar)

The Wave
Overview
Type Light rail transit
System Broward County Transit
Status planned
Locale Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Stations 13
Operation
Planned opening 2020
Owner Broward County
Character At-grade
Technical
Track length 2.7 mi (4.3 km)
Track gauge 4 ft 8 14 in (1,429 mm)
Route map

Sistrunk Blvd
FFC
NE 4th St
NW 1st Ave & NW 2nd St
SW 1st Ave & SW 2nd St
SW 1st Ave & SW 2nd St
SE 2nd St & SE 2nd Ave
E Las Olas Blvd & SE 3rd Ave
SE 3rd Ave & E Las Olas Blvd
New River
SE 6th Street & SE 3rd Ave
S Andrews & S 6th Street
S Andrews & S 13th Street
S Andrews & S 16th Street

The Wave is a 2.7-mile (4.3 km) streetcar rail line planned in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[1] Construction costs are estimated to be $200 million. The first phase includes a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) downtown loop and was scheduled to open in 2016[1] Broward County will own and operate the line. Ridership is anticipated from the downtown bus terminal, hospitals, courthouses, tourists, residents and office workers. The line will connect with the Sun Trolley buses reaching additional neighborhoods, beaches, Las Olas Boulevard, Tri-Rail, and the Fort Lauderdale Airport.[1] By 2016, however, physical work had yet to begin; by then the start of construction was pushed to 2017, with completion in 2020.[2]

The electric streetcar system was estimated to cost $125 million, and is being planned for the downtown. Construction funding will come from federal ($62.5 million), state ($37 million) and city taxpayers ($10.5 million), with approximately $15 million from assessments on properties located within the Downtown Development Authority. Broward County Transit (BCT) has committed to operating the system for the first 10 years at an expected annual cost of $2 million, and has guaranteed funding to cover any shortfall in ridership revenues.[3] The construction cost of $50 million per mile is considerably higher than other recently built streetcar projects, in part due to the challenges of building an electric transit system over the 3rd Avenue drawbridge.

In July 2013, the Fort Lauderdale city commissioners approved a tax on downtown property owners, providing the final part of funding needed for the projects construction to begin.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 A Streetcar for Lauderdale September, 2013 Florida Trend page 108 (partial online version of story linked)
  2. Barszewski, Larry; Wallman, Brittany (February 16, 2016). "Fort Lauderdale streetcar costs up $53 million from original budget". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  3. "The Wave homepage". The Wave.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.