Rep. Carter Announces $5.5 Million for Streetcar Accessibility Along the Historic St. Charles Streetcar Route

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) announced $5,492,524 through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) for the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA). This funding will be used to make stops along the historic St. Charles streetcar fully wheelchair accessible and was made possible through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) which Rep. Carter helped craft and voted for.

“I’m thrilled to announce this funding which will ensure that all Louisianians and visitors, including those with disabilities, have equitable access to essential transportation services,” said Rep. Carter. “By incorporating accessibility improvements that respect the area's history, the project promises to modernize infrastructure while preserving our unique cultural heritage, benefiting both current and future generations.”

“This is the definition of mission-critical funding as part of our mission to make equitable transit that is accessible for people with disabilities, as reaffirmed in our recently updated Strategic Mobility Plan. We want to thank our federal partners, including the Federal Transit Administration and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, for their support in helping us move this vital work forward,” said Lona Edwards Hankins, RTA CEO.

“The RTA Board of Commissioners remains committed to ensuring equitable transit for all passengers. This federal grant underscores the RTA's enduring commitment to this work as evidenced by the implementation of six wheelchair accessible stops in 2020. Today once again shows the RTA leadership's persistence in identifying resources to make sure the historic St. Charles Streetcar line is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Mark Raymond, Jr., Chair, RTA Board of Commissioners.

Background

The RTA is the public transportation provider for the City of New Orleans. As the largest public transportation provider in the New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, the RTA operates 34 bus routes, five streetcar routes, two ferry routes, and ADA paratransit service. Bus and streetcar service include six routes with peak-service frequencies of 15 minutes or better, as well as 12 routes that operate 24 hours/day. RTA's service area is relatively dense, covering more than 450,000 people and 200,000 jobs over a land area of about 185 square miles.

Operating since 1835, the St. Charles streetcar is the oldest continuously operated urban railway in the United States. While there have been several improvements and changes to the line over the decades, the vehicles are generally of the original 1920’s vintage, and the stops and route have not changed since 1973. Stops are typically a narrow strip of pavement only four feet wide and adjacent to the street. In 2020, four heritage-style modern streetcars with wheelchair accessible lifts were repainted to match the vintage St. Charles cars and six of the fifty-four total stops along the route were adapted to be ADA compliant.

Learn more about the FTA’s All Stations Accessibility Program here.

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