Tucson 4th ave streetcar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tucson 4th ave streetcar - Essay Example So far, the development plan is underway and the streetcar is soon getting an operation, however, the project draws a number of criticisms right from its planning to the effects of the finished railroad in the city. Efficiency in transportation reduces time lost in traffic thereby making the economy more efficient. For a long time the city of Tucson has merely relied on the efficient road network to provide connections to all the places within the city. The city has a dedicated metropolitan bus service coupled with a number of private taxi services that have by far ensured efficient transportation in and out of the city. However, the city just as any other part of the country is expanding. The city continues to attract more investors, which implies that more people move into the city all of who require effective means of transportation. This implies that while the sizes and the conditions of the road network have remained unchanged for quite some time, the demand has significantly in creased resulting in both congestion in the public places such as bus stations and traffic jams on the roads and major highways. The city therefore needed some more radical means of transportation, one which could transport a large number of people and do so efficiently fast. This could drastically reduce congestion and save time. Expansion of the road networks seemed more expensive and had more severe economic ramifications, the rest of the world and even New York among other cities in the United States have all tried and tested the efficiency of streetcars a feature, which prompted the council government of Tucson to employ one. However, the cost constructing one would overburden the taxpayers, which is the key source of revenue for the council government. The project, which expected to complete in June 2013, had an initial budget of one hundred and fifty million dollars but that has since increased to two hundred million owing to readjustments on a number of construction features (Golem and Janet 33). The project draws its funding from the voter approved regional transportation authority and federal agents both of which rely on taxes. Once completed the project is expected to relieve the public transport system and revamp business in the city’s major business districts. The project has so far served as one of the highest employers in the city of Tucson, its construction process alone has caused more than a thousand temporary construction jobs but the streetcar project is expected to create more than two thousand permanent jobs once it gets operational. Additionally, more than twenty construction companies set up in the neighborhood to sustain the construction process. More than one thousand five hundred more people will be employed by the Sun Link Tucson Transport Company to sustain the entire transportation process. Furthermore, the electricity powered streetcar promises efficiency, The Sun Link Tucson, which is the company mandated with operating t he streetcar, has a success history with managing public transportation and won the Best Transit system in 2005. It is therefore expected that the streetcar project will attain similar efficiency thereby decongesting the city. The mapping of the streetcar route passes