San Antonio: Six streetcar routes on the table

If VIA Metropolitan Transit trustees decide to build the longest of six proposed streetcar routes, the cost for the project could balloon to $272 million — $62 million more than what the agency currently can afford to spend on the downtown rail system.

That estimate was among dozens of cost, ridership and environmental issues discussed at a special VIA board meeting Monday. It was the first time trustees have gotten a look at how much it could cost to make streetcars a reality, and it's also the first of several meetings this month about the controversial project.

VIA officials must consider numerous factors in deciding where to put the tracks, weighing cost against ridership and economic development potential, for example. At the same time, they must appease any concerns about potential effects to San Antonio's historic downtown.

San Antonio's project also has the potential to be “the largest starter streetcar system ever undertaken in the United States,” said VIA's Chief Development Officer Brian Buchanan. .....................(more)

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