Sacramento stakes reputation on shorter streetcar line

Sacramento officials will be shortening their plan for a streetcar line.

A shortened streetcar project is expected to protect the city of Sacramento’s reputation.

Officials originally planned for a 4.4-mile line connecting West Sacramento Civic Center to Midtown Sacramento. However, when bids came in above the estimated cost of $208 million, the city put the plan on hold. The Federal Transit Administration already guaranteed $50 million for the project, and abandoning it meant losing the money. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg also said scratching the streetcar endeavor would hurt the city’s reputation with the FTA, which could mean less federal-appropriated money in the future.

A new plan has the streetcar system stopping at the Sacramento Valley Station for light-rail connections that run throughout the city. The cost for the project is estimated to be $130 million.

City councilman Steve Hansen suggested this could be the first mile of a larger extension in the future.

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