The always insightful Transport Politic has an excellent article on the current state and future outlook of streetcars in America.  This article further demonstrates the ever-increasing interest in streetcars as a means of economic development by cities across the nation, suggesting the 2010s could be the decade of streetcars in America.  Read more here.

The 2010s may be the decade of streetcars in America.  Thursday's awarding of $105 million in urban circulator funds to five streetcar projects across the U.S. represents another huge step toward expanding the role of streetcars in America's transportation system.  In the past year alone, over $300 million has been awarded by the Obama Administration to nine streetcar projects in cities as diverse as Portland, Tucson, New Orleans, Dallas (twice), Cincinnati, St. Louis, Charlotte, and Fort Worth.  Practically nothing was awarded in the previous years.  Moving forward, the role of streetcars as engines of economic development and smart growth should only continue to grow--there were 65 applications totaling over $1 billion for the $130 million in urban circulator funds, and many high profile projects such as the D.C. streetcar fell short simply due to lack of funds (it's worth noting that some of these applications were BRT projects, including Chicago's Central Area Transitway which was awarded $25 million).  Streetcar funding sources should continue to expand in the coming years, which means we could be seeing more and more streetcar lines under construction in the 2010s.  Hopefully Oakland will follow suit.