OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The City of Omaha will be giving residents another public transportation option in east Omaha.
After over 13 years of research and planning, Mayor Jean Stothert announced Wednesday that the city plans to build a streetcar down Farnam Street, from 10th to 42nd Streets.
For Stothert, it’s a perfect time to build a streetcar.
A bond issue passed in 2020 that will repair roads, build more apartments and businesses downtown, and with the joint announcement that Mutual of Omaha will move from midtown to downtown Omaha, Stothert believes city residents will embrace a streetcar.
“Now is the time to do it, because now is the time when people are looking to go downtown,” said Stothert.
Mayor Stothert cited various studies that make it clear that young adults want to move to cities with a variety of transportation options.
She believes a streetcar alleviates some of the parking issues downtown, allowing for even more development around the Riverfront project and other spots in the area.
“There’s a lot going on. It’s attracting a lot more people downtown, but we have to solve the parking problem, that’s what is attractive about it for me,” said Stothert.
The streetcar is expected to cost anywhere from $225 to 306 million and there will be no tax increases to pay for it.
Instead, it will be creatively funded through tax increment financing, known as TIF.
That complicated process includes the City of Omaha receiving extra money from increased property valuations near the streetcar system, as well as new projects near the route.
Developers of those new projects have promised to give 25% of their TIF proceeds to the city for the streetcar.
All that money will come down the line, so initial construction costs will be covered by various bonds.
“And the important thing about this is the risk is with the bondholder or with the city,” said Stothert.
Once built, it’s estimated the streetcar will cost the city over $6 million annually. Stothert plans to use the revenues from those, as well as all the money generated by parking meters, to pay for the streetcar on an annual basis.
The streetcars and the ORBT system, which currently goes down Dodge Street, may not just be going east-west.
Stothert says with money coming in from the federal infrastructure bill, more routes could be added north-south along 24th or 30th Streets.
