Streetcars are coming back to DC

This Sunday I held an open house on Potomac Street in Georgetown. It was one of those priceless Washington fall days and I took the long route back to my parked car so that I could enjoy some of the wonderful architecture unique to the neighborhood. I chanced to walk down P St. near Georgetown University and discovered that the street still had it old cobblestone pavement with a single streetcar track running down the middle.

I really loved the look of the street and if I was a resident of the city it would be just the kind of street that I would want my home on.

 I am old enough to remember the old DC Transit streetcars which were still running when my family first moved to Washington. As a small child I found them fascinating and it always exited me to go downtown with my parents and see them working their way across town. They were kind of cool looking with the ugliest green paint on them. Sad to say, I never got to ride on one before they were taken out of service.

The great news is that we will  have a new streetcar system working in the District of Columbia. It will be limited at first but I am hopeful that we will eventually see more viable streetcar lines connecting our communities. The first line along the H St corridor is slated to begin operation n 2014. Eventually the plan is for the new system to consist of 8 lines covering a total of 32 miles. The new cars are modern looking and will be mostly bright red. I am voting for the old green color but then again, I wanted the Washington Nationals to be named the Senators and nobody paid much attention to me on that matter either.