Streetcars and Economic Development: Do Streetcars Stimulate Employment Growth? Sarah Jack Hinners, Ph.D Director, Ecological Planning Center Department of City and Metropolitan Planning University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D., FAcSS, FAICP Professor of Planning and Real Estate Development School of Landscape Architecture and Planning University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona E:
[email protected] Martin Buchert, MA Senior Research Analyst Global Change and Sustainability Center University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge support for research reported in this article from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research with assistance from the University of Utah, the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, and the University of Arizona. We recognize especially contributions from Richard Decker, Dejan Eskic, Emily Guffin, Michael Larice, Kate Morrell, and Cassie Younger. Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the research sponsor or the authors’ universities. December 2017 1 Streetcars and Economic Development: Do Streetcars Stimulate Employment Growth? Abstract Positive economic development in association with transit investments such as light rail, bus rapid transit and streetcars is a common assumption in urban planning. However, the published literature on this relationship, primarily looking at light rail, shows varied outcomes, and studies on other modes such as BRT are very limited. This study reports economic development outcomes—defined as change in employment—for areas within one-quarter mile of three streetcar stations in each of four cities: Portland OR “Central Loop” line; Salt Lake City UT “S” line; Seattle WA “South Lake Union” line; and New Orleans LA “Rampart-St.