Following years of political controversy, the Cincinnati streetcar is scheduled to open for service on Sept. 15, 2016.
The news was unveiled in a city memo this morning, which detailed the streetcar project’s future following a construction deal with Messer Construction, Prus Construction and Delta Railroad.
revealed it will need nearly $500,000 more to do construction work
, which will be covered by the project’s $10 million contingency funds.
The memo detailed other upcoming milestones for the streetcar project:
• March 1, 2015: Substantial completion of a 3,000-foot test track and maintenance center.
• June 29, 2015: Substantial completion of Over-the-Rhine loop.
• March 15, 2016: Substantial completion of all work.
City Council recently approved $17.4 million in additional capital funding for the streetcar project, along with various accountability measures that will require the city manager to regularly update council and the public on the project’s progress. The project’s estimated cost now stands at $133 million.
Ever since its inception, the Cincinnati streetcar has been mired in political controversies and misrepresentations, which CityBeat covered in further detail
here
.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2013.