[2] On December 21, 2010 the Federal Transit Administration granted $900,000 to further study the Nicollet and Central Avenue corridors.
[4] Based on similar federal funded streetcar programs in the USA (mainly Portland, Oregon) streetcars are rarely separated from other traffic and are not given traffic-signal priority over other vehicles (like Light rail), except in a few situations to allow the rail cars—which cannot turn as sharply as most other motor vehicles—to make some turns.
Additional factors making the Portland Streetcar line less expensive to build per mile than light rail are that use of city streets largely eliminated the need to acquire private property for portions of the right-of-way, as has been necessary for the region's light rail lines, and that the vehicles' smaller size and therefore lighter weight has enabled the use of a "shallower track slab".
The latter means that construction of the trackway necessitated excavating to a depth of only 12.2 inches (310 mm) instead of the conventional (for light rail) depth of around 18.3 inches (460 mm), significantly reducing the extent to which previously existing underground utilities had to be relocated to accommodate the trackway.
A single articulated Portland streetcar is only about one-third the length of a two-car Lightrail Trains.
Examples of Portland streetcars: The streetcars would cost either as much as Metro light rail ($2.00 non-rush hour, $2.50 rush hour) or slightly less due to slower travel speeds ($2.05 all day-like Portland).
[6] It appears that the Nicollet Ave/Central Ave Line would be the first line to be built, due to its importance in helping revitalize both Northeast and South Minneapolis This line would run along Nicollet Avenue, Nicollet Mall and Central Avenue NE (Minnesota State Highway 65) from 46th Street South through Downtown Minneapolis (connecting to the Metro Blue and Green lines at Nicollet Mall Station) to the Columbia Heights Transit Center in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.
There is an at-grade railroad crossing at 36th Avenue NE that would have to be altered to ensure steady traffic flow for the streetcars.
Compared to the 30,500 riders per weekday on the 12.3 mile Blue Line from Target Field in Downtown Minneapolis to Mall of America.
This line would run along West Broadway (Hennepin County Road 81) and Washington Avenue from the Robbinsdale Transit Center to Nicollet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis.