Sacramento’s streetcar plan is dead. Should a light rail line over Tower Bridge replace it?

After years of effort and millions of dollars spent, Sacramento and West Sacramento officials have halted their plan to build a four-mile streetcar loop that would have connected the two cities via tracks over the Tower Bridge, saying the project turned out to be too expensive.

That’s led to a disagreement over what kind of a rail project the cities should build instead.

Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui and West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon are pushing to build a shorter and cheaper light rail line over Tower Bridge to connect the downtown Sacramento Amtrak depot with the Sutter Health Park ball field near Tower Bridge and possibly West Sacramento’s civic center area.

Matsui and Cabaldon say that new light rail project would be similar enough to the streetcar project that federal transit officials likely would allow the region to keep and use $50 million in federal funds that Matsui won a few years ago for streetcar construction. Otherwise, they say, federal officials will rescind the $50 million grant next September.

Matsui sent a letter to Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and 17 other local officials last month encouraging them to focus their efforts now on that project. “I ... believe this is the only project (the two cities and Sacramento Regional Transit) should be focusing on at the current moment,” she wrote.

“I do believe we can still be successful in re-scoping the project to honor our shared goals of connecting the two cities while preserving the federal and local funding that has been secured.”

More light rail to railyard soccer stadium?

Sacramento council members Steve Hansen and Jeff Harris, however, say the city of Sacramento should change gears dramatically, and build a second light rail track from downtown through the railyard to the Township 9 development site on Richards Boulevard.

That would put Sacramento Regional Transit, the light rail operator, in position to offer adequate light rail service for a large amount of expected developments in the railyard in the next few years, including a Major League Soccer stadium, a new state Superior Court house, and a Kaiser Permanente hospital and medical complex, as well as planned state offices north of the railyard near Richards Boulevard.

A second track would allow light rail trains to run in both directions through the railyard at the same time, providing 15-minute frequencies instead of 30-minute trains on a single track, making the rail more functional for commuters, hospital users and soccer fans.

Harris called the double-tracking imperative in a letter to Matsui’s office.

“The city must, in my opinion, move aggressively toward double tracking, lest the River District (Richards Boulevard area) and the Railyards be mired in gridlock,” Harris wrote. “This is a very rare occurrence in which I disagree with the congresswoman.”

Hansen concurred with the idea of moving forward now on double tracking, though he clarified in a subsequent conversation with The Bee that he does not oppose a light rail line to West Sacramenro.

“We have to find a way to double track,” he said. “This is important to our city. We’ve got to get ahead of the curve and provide transit capacity to avoid the car traffic and parking problems in the railyard and along Richards Boulevard.”

The light rail line that runs through the railyard, the Green Line, currently ends a mile north at the Township 9 development site on Richards Boulevard. That line is planned to be extended north in the future as a double-tracked line over the American River, through south and north Natomas and on to Sacramento International Airport.

Sacramento streetcar plan ends

The current disagreement stems from the decision made earlier this year to shelve plans to build a 4.4-mile streetcar line that would have looped through downtown Sacramento and crossed the Tower Bridge to serve several areas near the West Sacramento waterfront.

Matsui secured $50 million in federal funds for that project, with the likelihood of getting another $50 million as well, to be augmented by $100 million or so in state and local funds for what would have been a $200-million-plus streetcar line. But rail line construction bids in January came in far higher than expected, causing proponents to halt efforts.

In the last month, the debate has intensified as officials began looking at options for some sort of “successor” or amended rail project.

Matsui, in her letter to Steinberg, said she fully supports double-tracking the Green Line through the railyard at some point. However, she reiterated “the first priority should be moving forward with connecting our two cities and preserving the federal funding I secured in fiscal year 2017.”

Cabaldon, West Sacramento’s mayor, said connecting his city to downtown Sacramento with light rail will help get that city’s waterfront developed in a more timely and urban manner, extending the region’s downtown to both sides of the river.

“Our focus has been on a light rail extension with Raley Field to stay within the funding envelope and environmental documents” the two cities originally submitted to federal transit officials, Cabaldon said.

The two cities already have spent about $9 million each on planning the streetcar, officials in those cities said. Some or most of those sunken costs could be applied to a light rail line over the Tower Bridge. If no project is built across the Tower Bridge, that $18 million likely will have gone for naught.

For his part, Steinberg told The Bee he wants to look for a way to make both projects happen soon.

“My role is to allow us to accomplish both of our objectives,” he said. “I think we can do both. The priorities are both compelling. I think it is very important that we keep faith with our congresswoman who got our cities $50 million. We shouldn’t turn our back on that possibility.”

If the two cities and Sacramento Regional Transit were to extend light rail over the Tower Bridge, they would have to come up with local and state funds to match the federal $50 million. At the moment, the state has offered $30 million for the streetcar that Hansen and Harris say they would like to apply instead to the double-track project.

Sacramento Regional Transit officials, who would be the operators of either project, said they are willing to work on a Tower Bridge light rail project supported by Matsui, if the two cities come to an agreement. They also plan at some point to double track and extend the Green Line to the airport, but have no timetable for that.

“SacRT is committed to working with the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento to identify a successor project that will build upon our region’s existing light rail backbone and connect the two cities,” SacRT said in a statement from General Manager Henry Li’s office. “The project partners and the Federal Transit Administration are supportive of transition to a light rail project led by SacRT. We will work diligently with the two cities to identify a consensus successor project and move it forward in a timely manner.”

Republic FC soccer officials say they expect many of their fans to come to their games via light rail, ride-share cars and rentable e-bikes and scooters, as well as in their private cars. The stadium plan calls for a new light rail station to be built on Seventh Street, a short block from the stadium, which will be built on a currently empty corner of the railyard. The plan also calls for parking lots.

SacRT officials said they would be able to serve Republic FC soccer fans on match days at the stadium with the existing single rail line that runs past the stadium site. But they acknowledged a double track would give them a much more robust service.

Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Sutter Health Park by its previous name, Raley Field.

This story was originally published November 5, 2019 at 5:30 AM.