For the past few years, Mayor Jean Stothert has spoken about her plans for a streetcar for Omaha. Starting last summer, the plans were officially finalized, and the Omaha Street Car Authority was established, with the intention to have the streetcar up and running by spring 2027 according to a recent newsletter from the Omaha Streetcar Authority.

We are currently in the ‘Design’ phase of the timeline. Started last summer and continuing until summer 2024, this will be when they are planning out the full layout of where the lines and stops will go; how traffic and utilities will be relocated; and the design of the streetcar itself. At this time the line itself has been finalized, and they are currently focusing on traffic and utilities.

Construction will officially begin summer of 2024, and is set to go through spring of 2026. From there, testing will be conducted to make sure the streetcar is fully operational, with it being fully available by spring 2027.

The streetcar will be free to ride for anyone interested, with the costs being covered by the parking meters downtown. The meters will be used to pay for overhead costs and any repairs that are needed.

The line will be along Farnam Street, starting and ending at 42nd Street. It will go down Turner Boulevard, go down Harney Street until it hits 10th Street, the head up to the CHI Health Center. It will head back down, take Capital Avenue and turn into 8th Street before connecting back to Farnam and heading back to 42nd. The entire trip from start to finish takes roughly one (1) hour to complete. The line goes near, but does not enter, Blackstone District, Midtown Crossing, the Flatiron District, and The Old Market.

As currently written, the plan calls for the streetcar to run from 6 a.m. to midnight daily, with extended hours to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. During the weekday ridership peak of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and weekend peak of noon to 7 p.m., passengers can expect the streetcar to arrive at a stop every 10 minutes. During times of lesser demand, the route will operate at 15-minute intervals on weekdays and 20-minute intervals on weekends. These times are subject to change and will be refined closer to operations.

The streetcar will be electric, and the goal is to have six (6) cars and able to hold around 130 to 170 people. Their batteries are set to be rapid charge, connected to a partial wire system throughout the line, and the batteries have a five (5) year lifespan before needing to be replaced. The batteries cost $150,000 a year to maintain, and $500,000 to replace.   

Mayor Jean Stothert is the one who initially put this project into place. Since then the city has created the Omaha Streetcar Authority (OSA), an offshoot of the City of Omaha and Metro Transit. The members of the board are:

President of the OSA - Jay Noddle; President and CEO of Noddle Companies, a real estate development company

Vice President - Robert Stubbe; Public Works Director for the City of Omaha

Lauren Cencic; Chief Executive Officer for Metro Transit Omaha

William Clingman; Finance Director for Metro Transit Omaha

Dave Fanslau; Planning Director for the City of Omaha

Steve Curtiss; Finance Director for the City of Omaha

Edith Simpson; Legal and Human Resources Director for Metro Transit Omaha

Interim Executive Director - Rick Gustafson;  the Omaha Development Foundation, part of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce

Henningson, Durham and Richardson, Inc (HDR)’s Omaha Branch are being consulted for the initial design of the streetcar layout and building. Marketing is being done by Emspace + Lovgren, a marketing and communication agency out of Omaha.

Portland, Oregon and Omaha are partnering to procure streetcar vehicles. The two cities will work together to find a manufacturer that will build the required vehicles; six (6) for Omaha and eleven (11) for Portland; and will hopefully cut the costs of both the car acquisition and the search for the manufacturer itself.

The streetcar is currently projected to cost $306 million. This covers everything from building the streetcar itself; which would include the vehicles, tracks, electrical systems, maintenance stations, and stops; as well as street repair, utility relocation, and the staffing. The bulk is being covered by Tax Increment Financing (TIF). TIF involves city governments investing in public infrastructure, and these improvements bringing in more businesses and tax revenue that will help cover the original investment. In essence, it is a city taking a loan against itself to build, with the belief that their future tax revenue will be enough to cover the cost later.

In short, the streetcar will only be paid off if there is enough improvement to the city in the area where the streetcar runs to bring in more tax revenue. The current projections have the TIF paid off within thirty (30) years, with an estimated revenue of $3 billion.

Stothert has assured the public that there will not be a property tax increase to cover the streetcar. Because this will not use tax dollars, it was not required for there to be a public vote.

A recent survey done by Blueprint Polling back in April, surveying 428 registered voters, shows that 68% were opposed to the streetcar, 19% were in favor of it, and 13% were unsure. Most have said they do not believe they would ever use the streetcar system.

A petition started in April by the Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, a Libertarian organization that believes in limited government, has currently reached 2,160 people. This petition is in hope that the mayor will halt what they feel is a costly project with little benefit for the citizens at large.

There has been a proposal to build a second streetcar that will connect to the airport. This would cost $100 million, and would go from Douglas Street up North 18th Street, shift to N 16th, then take East Street to Eppley Airfield.  This was proposed by Senator Justin Wayne of District 13 as LB477 back in January of this year, but it has not since been voted on.

There has also been a suggestion of connecting the current proposed streetcar to Council Bluffs by building a bridge that would be specifically for the streetcar and foot traffic. While this has been affirmed by the OSA, there have been no firm plans put into works as of yet, as their focus is currently on the line they are building in Omaha proper. 

Meetings of the Omaha Streetcar Authority are held on the second Monday of the month at 1:30 pm at the Legislative Chambers in City Hall at 1819 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE, 68183. These meetings are open to the public, as well as available on Zoom if you request the link from the City of Omaha.

Graphics are courtesy of the Omaha Streetcar Authority. We at The Daily Record would like to hear your thoughts. If you have any questions about the streetcar that you want answered or any opinions you’d like to share, please email us at newsroom@omahadailyrecord.com. You can sign up for updates on the project at omahastreetcar.org/#4.