Another of the BBW2BABB$: New Starts: Boise’s Circulator Plans

Just another of the "Billion Better Ways to Blow a Billion Bucks" than to waste it on an obsolete from Day 1 piece of Sprawl Enabler like the Bridgasaurus Boondogglus.

Talk of Trolleys Circulates Around Boise
The city of Boise, Idaho's capital and largest city, is contemplating a "circulator" to strengthen its downtown as an employment center, improve public transportation and slow down the rate of sprawl — all goals citizens said they wanted the city to pursue in three citizens' surveys conducted between 2007 and 2010.

Though city officials are reluctant to use the term, it appears that the locals have trolleys in mind when talk of a downtown circulator surfaces. According to Boise Weekly, 54 percent of Boiseans who showed up at an open house last January said they would prefer the circulator be a streetcar route, as opposed to 26 percent who said it should be a bus.

As to where it should go, residents are pretty much in agreement on the destinations it should serve. Those who attended the open house identifiedfour destinations in central Boise the circulator should serve: the downtown core (adjacent to the state Capitol), Boise State University, St. Luke's Medical Center, and the Linen District.

Now the city is asking residents for guidance concerning the details, such as what streets the circulator should run on. Two community workshopsnext week will bring city officials and residents together to review the possible routes and develop recommended alternatives.

This community input-seeking is part of an alternatives analysis launched with a $375,000 federal grant in 2012. According to the Weekly, the citizen-focused process was largely the work of one Boise City Council member who recalled the poor public reception of a 2008 plan to build an east-west streetcar loop through downtown. To date, $563,000 in federal, city and non-profit funds have been spent on the analysis, which is expected to be completed next spring. If enough residents and elected officials are on board by then, the city estimates it would take another year to secure local funding for the project. The soonest construction could start would be the spring of 2016.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."