Document Type

Report

Publication Date

6-2011

Abstract

The purpose of this research is: 1) to inform decision makers at both the state and local level on options for successfully implementing a proposed passenger train between New Orleans and Baton Rouge; 2) to evaluate the potential impacts of new streetcar extensions on growth and development within select service corridors within the City of New Orleans. Both of these projects are viewed within the context of a post- Katrina environment. This report also provides a Summer 2010 ‘snapshot in time’ of existing and proposed real estate development along and adjacent to the proposed streetcar extensions in and adjoining the New Orleans Central Business District, and evaluates the relationship between real estate development and transit investment in post-Katrina New Orleans. Research findings include:

- Two key ingredients to date have been lacking in the proposed NO-BR passenger rail service: 1) effective leadership championing the project; 2) creative solutions to funding the annual operating deficit.

- In New Orleans, several significant projects are being developed or have been designed in response to the Loyola Streetcar project and the proposed N. Rampart – St. Claude streetcar line. However, the vast majority of post-Katrina real estate investments have no relation to the funded or proposed Program of Projects by the Regional Transit Authority. This is due to the absence of pro-active planning by the City Planning Commission and the City Council that links land use decisions with transportation investments.

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