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In recent years, considerable innovation has led to modern streetcars WITHOUT OVERHEAD WIRES. There are three basic means:
1) Ground level power supply;
2) Onboard energy storage system; and
3) Onboard power generation system.
There is every reason to consider using this kind of new, advanced techology here in Baltimore along all five miles of North Avenue - making unnecessary the installation and use of unsightly and sometimes troublesome catenary (overhead) wires. Here are two examples of such a wireless streetcar - the one in the photo above is made by Bombardier in Canada; the one in the photo directly below is on the street in Nice, France:
Lots of new developments are either under way or being planned with and for NORTH AVENUE. There are proposed new bus routes; there is the East North Avenue Corridor LINCS (Leveraging Investment in Neighborhood Corridors); there is the Baltimore National Heritage Area; and there are the East North Avenue Streetscape and the Conceptual Plan for the West North Avenue Streetscape. Finally, there was the recent federal TIGER grant project "North Avenue Rising".
However, "NORTH AVENUE RISING" is missing one important thing: Five miles of modern streetcar line (shown here imposed on a graphic used for "North Avenue Rising"). As it moves to improve public transportation along North Avenue, it should explore LOCATING A MODERN STREETCAR DOWN THE MIDDLE OF NORTH AVENUE!
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Here is a visualization of what the North Avenue Modern Streetcar line might look like, showing the many current and planned features of North Avenue:
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WHAT IF we invested in a MODERN STREETCAR LINE on NORTH AVENUE? North Avenue has been called the central east-west spine of this city! This could be good for its neighborhood residents who depend on public transportation, and also good for existing and new businesses. In fact, almost 100 years ago, an electric streetcar - the number 13 - ran from one end of North Avenue to the other. So why could this not happen again, this time with a modern streetcar?Already, the Metro and Light Rail intersect with North Avenue, as do many bus lines! The new streetcar line could look like this:
Now, as we enter the third decade of the 21st Century, why not build a modern streetcar line from one end to the other of NORTH AVENUE? This major east-west avenue in Baltimore is either intersected by or crossed by 89 other streets, at least twenty of which are major streets! North Avenue passes through four City Council Districts: 7, 11, 12, and 13! Streetcars along North Avenue would open up many new opportunities for the residents and merchants around the major Penn-North intersection, for the students at Coppin State University, for the artistic and music community centered around Station North, for the many residents living around Greenmount and North and Broadway and North.
Today, there are fourteen cities in the US (in 12 States and the District of Columbia) which are using modern streetcars as part of their public transportation system.
The cities, in alphabetical order are:
Atlanta (GA)
Charlotte (NC)
Cincinnati (OH)
Dallas (TX)
Detroit (MI)
Kansas City (MO)
Milwaukee (WI)
Oklahoma City (OK)
Portland (OR)
Salt Lake City (UT)
Seattle (WA)
Tempe (AZ)
Tucson (AZ), and
Washington, D.C.
The first of these streetcar systems was built just 21 years ago in Portland, Oregon. MOST OF THESE STREECAR SYSTEMS ARE QUITE NEW, HAVING BEEN BUILT IN THE LAST NINE YEARS.
They range in length from 3.2 to 11.8 miles, and in number of stops from 6 to 76.
THE PEOPLE AND SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES AND MANY OTHER ACTIVITIES ALONG NORTH AVENUE COULD REALLY USE AND BENEFIT FROM A MODERN STREETCAR LINE LOCATED RIGHT THERE ALONG THE ENTIRE AVENUE!
Were North Avenue in Baltimore City to have its own modern streetcar, it would be able to run almost the entire almost five(5)-mile length of that avenue from Edgewood Street at the west end of the Avenue to Milton Avenue and Rose Sreet at the east end. As such it would be right in the middle of system lengths when compared with the other eighteen streetcar systems. North Avenue has the distinct advantage of being very straight throughout all its length, with only mild grades at its west and east ends.
As for number of stops, right now the CITYLINK Gold Line bus from the far west end of North Avenue (at Denison Street) to very close to the east end of North Avenue (at Patterson Park Avenue) the other, stops 27 places. There is no reason why a modern streetcar could not make the same number of stops, and completely replace the current bus line on North Avenue. Were it to do so, this would make the Baltimore North Avenue Modern Streetcar (BNAMS) line similar in number of stops to three of the other modern streetcar lines which stop most frequently after the Portland, Oregon line.
But - more importantly - the North Avenue Modern Streetcar (NAMS) would offer the entire five miles of North Avenue a new and welcome kind of economic stability that would attract and hold new residential and commercial growth!
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For more information about all of this, see
the list of modern streetcars by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
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