CHAPTER II - SETTING Eureka Springs is a national treasure. Situated in the Ozark mountains of Northwestern Arkansas, it has been known for the reported curative powers of its waters for well over a century. As the premier tourist attraction in the region, it hosts well over a million visitors each year. A key part of the attractiveness is the Historic District, arguably the finest concentrated example of preserved Victorian architecture in the country. This picturesque area of shops, galleries, restaurants, lodging places and residences forms the core of the town. A large part of the charm of the Historic District is its setting. It sits on the side of a hill, its buildings fronting on narrow, crooked streets whose right of way has not changed since they were first laid out over a century ago. In the commercial section along Spring Street, the shops march side by side from the junction with Main Street, past the Basin Park Hotel and the New Orleans Hotel, to the Post Office. Past that point, shops, restaurants and landmarks such as the 1901 Palace Hotel gradually give way to residences, and by the time the Carnegie Library is reached, the neighborhood has become one of jewelbox Victorian homes interspersed with elegant Bed and Breakfast establishments. Over the years, the "Historic Loop", which follows Spring Street, has become a "must" for tourists and visitors. As tourism has grown, so have the headaches of congestion and poor air quality. Unless some action is taken in the near future, these problems are only expected to increase as the completion of a regional airport and greatly improved highway access to northwest Arkansas become realities. To provide an alternative means of transportation, Eureka Springs operates a transit system, which uses rubber tired buses. These vehicles are designed to look like old time trolleys, and operate over a number of routes which not only serve the Historic District, but provide coverage of other key visitor attractions. As the access to the area improves and visitors increase, this system will most likely need to expand its coverage to those attractions to keep pace. The concentration of traffic along Spring Street, and the need to provide a auto-competitive transit service, have led to the formation of CETA - the Community Electric Trolley Association. CETA believes that an electric rail streetcar line serving the Historic District would be of great benefit to Eureka Springs. It would provide a high-capacity means of moving people safely and dependably. It would relieve the crush of auto traffic in the Historic District, an area laid out well before the automobile age and ill-equipped to cope with today's traffic, and even less able to meet future demands. Like the cable cars in San Francisco, it would be an attraction in itself, and will increase tourism revenue and related job-creation in Northwest Arkansas as well as in Eureka Springs. It would be historically correct, since such a line formerly ran on Spring Street, along the alignment recommended in this report. Accordingly, CETA contracted with the Lomarado Group to undertake a study to determine the applicability of the concept, to determine its technical feasibility and to develop preliminary cost estimates of such a project. Assuming the technical feasibility study is affirmed by CETA, an in-depth economic benefit analysis will be undertaken as part of the further development of the project.

Index | Executive Summary | Map of Proposed System | Introduction | Setting | Historic Precedent

Vintage Streetcars in Other Cities | Alignment Assessment | Vehicles | Operations | Capital Cost Estimate

Operating Costs | Funding | Implementation | About The Lomarado Group | Submit a Comment

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