The Streetcar Feasibility Study will host its next public meeting tonight (April 26, 2010) to hear input from residents, business people, UCCS students and faculty and others about a possible streetcar system in Colorado Springs.

Study backers will present information about expansion of possible routes to include neighborhoods to the north, south, east and west of downtown Colorado Springs.

The Streetcar Feasibility Study, a private-sector effort, is evaluating the economic feasibility and cost of building a modern electric streetcar system in and near downtown Colorado Springs. The study also is gauging community interest and is expected to be completed by June.

The study is being conducted by Mountain Metropolitan Transit, the city’s bus service, and is funded by federal planning grants, Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the Downtown Development Authority, the Business Improvement District, the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, the Old North End Neighborhood Association and Bircham’s.

Another public meeting will be scheduled for May, when organizers will present the study’s final recommendations.

Colorado Springs had streetcars serving downtown, the west-side neighborhood and Manitou Springs from 1887 to 1932. Since then, reviving the city’s streetcar system has run into snags, ranging from a lack of money to problems with moving utility lines buried under streets.

STREETCAR MEETING

5:30-7 p.m. Monday April 26, 2010

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway

University Center, Rooms 116 A&B

For more information: www.csStreetcar.com or at 533-7859

Marine Corps Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins Photo by The Associated Press file

Denis Poroy