The RTA plans to extend streetcar lines but has to balance public transit needs with N.O. tourism

Extending New Orleans streetcar lines offers many exciting possibilities, but where to expand first will be a topic of debate until August when consultants submit a recommendation to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority.

The pressing question the RTA faces, in addition to how to pay for the project, is whether the chosen route should primarily serve tourists or city residents.

On Thursday, RTA officials, transportation planners, and public and private stakeholders held a public meeting on the three proposed extensions:

* the Union Passenger Terminal/Howard Avenue loop, running from Lee Circle to Canal Street via Loyola Avenue;

* the French Quarter/Elysian Fields Avenue/Press Street loop, which would bring street car service into the Treme and 7th Ward; and

* a loop along Convention Center Boulevard and the Mississippi Riverfront, serving the New Orleans Morial Convention Center and adjacent hotels.

The proposals should not be considered "in a vacuum," said Winsome Bowen, project manager for HDR Engineering, the Omaha, Neb., consulting firm analyzing the three proposals for RTA. Instead, she said the extensions must be viewed as part of a systemwide approach of "streetcar alignments in conjunction with existing bus service and existing streetcars."