April 26, 2010 - New Orleans' Streetcar

Among its other rebuilding efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, New Orleans has been restoring its streetcar operations.  Most famous is the St. Charles line with its historic streetcars operating through the Garden District, Uptown, and Carrollton.  Other lines operate along Canal Street from the Mississippi Riverfront to Mid-City, and along the Riverfront from the Warehouse District and Convention Center through the Vieux Carre (French Quarter).  Together, the streetcar lines connect residential neighborhoods, universities, the central business district, City Park and Audubon Park, museums, the CBD, French Quarter, and the Mississippi River ferries.

New Orleans is well-suited for streetcars, and vice versa.  The city is compact, has a densely-connected street grid, lively and walkable mixed use neighborhoods, and multiple transportation modes.  The St. Charles streetcar is the oldest continually operating in the country, while many of the city’s neighborhoods were once streetcar faubourgs (suburbs).  And of course, the city’s streetcars were featured in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire (now a bus line). 

In turn, the streetcars are an important part of the city’s transportation fabric.  Unlike other forms of rail transit, such as light rail or commuter rail that primarily focus on work commuting and regional travel, streetcars are ideal at knitting together mixed use neighborhoods with major destinations and encouraging redevelopment in compact areas with strong existing or desired pedestrian presence.  New Orleans’ streetcars are so popular with both local residents and tourists that they are almost always full and run behind schedule.  The system is also not yet fully at pre-Katrina capacity, though the City is addressing this issue along with studying a proposed major geographic expansion of the system.  The City and its streetcar riders recognize the system’s value in contributing to the area’s rebuilding and investment, quality of life, distinctive character, and personal mobility.