Last week, DC Surface Transit, Inc. (DCST) launched a new DC Streetcar website on the Ning social networking site to facilitate sharing photos, videos, blogs and presentations related to development of the planned D.C. streetcar system. DCST is a non-profit comprised of the Downtown, Golden Triangle and Georgetown Business Improvement Districts; the Washington Convention Center Authority (WCCA); the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC); and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which oversees marketing of the DC Circulator buses.

Current highlights of the website include a video documenting a recent DCST Portland Streetcar study tour as well as photographs and presentations from that trip. A powerpoint presentation summarizing the current DC Streetcar plan is also available on the website.

I generally like the “36 Hours in XXX” series of travel articles that runs weekly in the New York Times. Depending on the featured city’s distance from Washington, the article provides me with either some good ideas for my next visit or a tantalizing glimpse of a city I am unlikely to ever get to visit.

This week, the featured city was Istanbul. A I scrolled though the slide show of photographs that accompanies the article, one photograph caught my eye. It is a photograph of Istiklal Avenue, one of Istanbul’s most prominent streets. The Wikipedia article on Istiklal Avenue describes it as:

one of the most famous avenues in Istanbul, Turkey, visited by nearly 3 million people in a single day over the course of weekends. Located in the historic Beyoğlu district, it is an elegant pedestrian street, approximately three kilometers long, which houses exquisite boutiques, music stores, bookstores, art galleries, cinemas, theaters, libraries, cafés, pubs, night clubs with live music, historical patisseries, chocolateries and restaurants.

This famous, historic, vibrant and beautiful street also features, you guessed it, a streetcar. And yes, that streetcar runs with overhead wires. What’s more, as this montage of Istanbul images clearly illustrates, the streetcars that run on that route are considered as symbolic of that historic city as the Topkapi Palace and the Galata Tower. (Istanbul also benefits from a network of modern trams.)

The article and my research on Istiklal Avenue got me thinking about other famous streets that feature streetcars. It is a long list — here are a few.

Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich
The Wikipedia article on this street that connects Zurich’s central train station with Lake Zurich describes it as “one of the world’s most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues.”

Ringstrasse, Vienna
A beautiful street that is a tourist attraction in its own right. One site dubs it “a jewel among the streets of the world.”

Maximilianstrasse, Munich
One of Munich’s four “royal avenues,” Maximilianstrasse is home to museums, the Bavarian state parliament and a long stretch of Line 19 of Munich’s extensive streetcar network, which is just one part of a comprehensive network of subways and suburban trains.

La Canebiere, Marseille
The Champs Elysee of France’s second city hosts part of Marseille’s growing streetcar network.

Avenue Louise, Brussels
One of the nicest streets in Brussels, this Haussmannesque boulevard hosts three of that city’s 17 streetcar lines and is crossed by several others.

Princes Street, Edinburgh
This famous and beautiful historic street in the heart of one of the world’s most beautiful cities will soon feature streetcars;.

These examples all clearly illustrate that not only can streetcars coexist with beautiful, vibrant and historic streets, they are often one the main ingredients that lends those streets such character.

Benning Road isn’t the only Streetcar construction underway in DC–the “Anacostia Operations & Maintenance Facility & Initial Line Segment” is underway along Firth Sterling Street SE and South Capitol Street SE, adjacent to the Anacostia Metro.

Between South Capitol Street and the Suitland Parkway, Firth Sterling street is under construction: this is looking west:

The tracks are in place on the south side of the street while construction continues on the north. Looking back east from South Capitol Street:

At South Capitol Street and Firth Sterling Street, we see the official sign for this project:

Interestingly, the portion of the CSX tracks, which early in the planning were going to be used for streetcars, that used to cross South Capitol street have now been removed:

This break in the CSX tracks joins several similar trackage removals inside the Navy and Air Force complexes that make the last industrial purpose of this line–moving chlorine tank cars to the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant–impossible.
The new tracks continue across South Capitol Street:

Some of which are set in concrete:

The tracks continue several hundred yards to the south, but end far short of the main entrance to Bolling Air Force Base.

I find it somewhat interesting that the tracks have been laid on the west side of South Capitol Street. There is a pocket of industrial-ish land between 295 and South Capitol Street–on the east side of the street–that DC presently uses for maintenance vehicles and commercial drivers’ license testing which one might have thought would be a reasonable location for the maintenance facility. There is not very much space between Bolling Air Force base’s fence and South Capitol Street–presumably the tracks under construction here are intended to go all the way to Bolling’s main gate.
One final view, looking north at the end of the tracks. Note the extant CSX tracks on the left.