Anacostia Line
[1] The goal of the project was to bring light rail to Anacostia first (rather than last, as had happened with Metrorail), and to provide a speedier, more cost-effective way to link the neighborhood with the rest of the city.
[2] Lyndsey Layton, reporting in The Washington Post, asserted the cars would be the first of their kind to be built in the United States and approved by the Federal Railroad Administration.
[5] In September 2004, Metro agreed to move ahead with the project (whose $45 million cost was now being funded completely by the District of Columbia), with construction to start in November 2004 and end in 2006.
[17] In November 2007, work on the high-voltage electrical infrastructure needed for the light rail system was under way, the line was now planned to be 1.3 miles (2.1 km) long, and the projected cost was $30 million.
[20] DDOT opened bids for the now-$45 million contract to construct the Anacostia Line's tracks and infrastructure in August 2008.
[21] The city had intended to transfer $10 million from demolition of the 11th Street Bridges to fund the line, but put that plan on hold due to delays in the streetcar project.
[23] The delays had caused the warranty on the mothballed Czech-produced streetcars to expire, and storage costs were running $860,000 a year.
[27] DDOT officials pledged to finish the Anacostia Line project by December 2012, but said they would either fold the project into the Phase II construction plan (which is intended to expand the streetcar system along Rhode Island Avenue NE, Florida Avenue NW, along U Street and Calvert Streets NW, and into Georgetown) or issue a new contract that extends the build-out and thus makes the yearly costs of the contract less expensive.
[28] City planners said they continued to look at tapping into a $180 million fund designed to service Metro's debt, enacting BID or zoning taxes in areas affected by the streetcar system, or creating public-private partnerships that would tap into private money for construction in exchange for tax breaks or concessions by the city.
The rising cost of the project became an issue in the reelection bid of D.C. City Council member Tommy Wells, whose ward encompasses H Street.
[32] But planning for the line remained in flux, as both the Federal Transit Administration and DDOT held yet another series of public meetings in 2012.
[33] On October 8, 2012, DDOT Director Terry Bellamy said the city was still working on plans to open an Anacostia line in Ward 8.
DDOT applied for a $20 million National Infrastructure Investments — Consolidated Appropriations Act grant to assist it in building the extension.
The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District, a tax-financed group promoting business and residential development along the north bank of the Anacostia River between 2nd Street SW and 15th Street SE,[36] proposed constructing a light rail line between Union Station and St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Capitol Riverfront officials said there had been no discussions about whether the proposed light rail link would be part of the DC Streetcar system or a separate transportation component.
