WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia’s new streetcar line won’t open next week as the previous mayor had promised.
Former Mayor Vincent Gray announced before he left office that the streetcar would open the week of Jan. 19.
But the new acting director of the District Department of Transportation, Leif Dormsjo, said in a statement Friday that there is no opening date. Federal safety certifications haven’t been completed, and Dormsjo says the department won’t “set arbitrary deadlines” for that process to be finished.
The 2.4-mile streetcar line will be the first working trolley in the nation’s capital in more than 50 years. The project has been beset by delays, and with a price tag of $190 million thus far, some have questioned whether the benefits will outweigh the costs.
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