The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA)/Veolia, host system for the 2011 APTA Annual Meeting and EXPO, invites all registrants to participate in two technical tours Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 5, following the completion of the meeting.
Streetcar Expansion Project
NORTA/Veolia received a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for a major expansion of the streetcar line into a busy downtown corridor on Loyola Avenue. This effort will connect a major downtown corridor to the Union Passenger Terminal, allowing riders intermodal access between the NORTA network and intercity rail and bus service. Another major project will expand streetcar service to the neighborhoods around the French Quarter, greatly improving mobility and access to jobs for transit-dependent residents.
While some 140 cities are currently considering streetcar lines, New Orleans is a pioneer, continuing to operate on a system that opened in 1835. NORTA/Veolia is collaborating with numerous city agencies (such as water, sewer, utility, fire, and police) and reports that more than $1.1 billion in new development has already been committed along the expansion corridor.
New Carrollton Facility
New Orleans has a streetcar building that is unique in the U.S. and probably the world: the New Carrollton facility, where public transit employees construct the agency’s streetcars by hand, using time-honored techniques from the past, which preserve the streetcars’ treasured status as a National Historic Landmark. Forty skilled crafters work with tools similar to those used more than a century ago.
These craftsmen rebuilt the entire fleet of red Canal Street Streetcars, which received extensive damage during Hurricane Katrina, and returned them to service. They update and maintain the historic green streetcars as well. The building itself is beautiful, historic, and has a lot of character.
Because tour sizes are limited, persons wishing to participate are asked to sign up in advance at the host information desk in the APTA registration area in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. |