RTA gets $5.5M federal grant to improve accessibility along St. Charles streetcar line

By Bobbi-Jeanne Misick
Contributing Writer

(Veritenews.org) — The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority will receive more than $5 million in federal funding to improve accessibility for people with disabilities who ride the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, a designated historic landmark that has generated criticism and litigation for failing to keep up with modern-day standards.

The Federal Transit Administration announced Tuesday (May 28) that the RTA is one of eight transit systems around the country that will receive a total of $343 million in grant funds through the All Stations Accessibility Program to bolster their rail systems’ compliance with the American Disabilities Act. The RTA has secured $5,492,524 of those funds for “completing the design and construction of ADA-compliant stops and conducting traffic studies along the historic corridor.”

“This funding is a critical part of our goal to make equitable transit that is accessible for all,” RTA CEO Lona Edwards-Hankins said in a statement last week.

The FTA’s announcement comes one week after a federal judge issued a preliminary ruling in favor of a New Orleans family that sued the RTA last year over lack of accessibility along the line. Chris and Cristina Perez Edmunds filed suit after their 8-year-old son Oscar Edmunds was not allowed to board a streetcar from a stop that is not designated ADA accessible. The order will allow him to board and deboard streetcars at 66-court-approved stops along the line.

The St. Charles Streetcar line, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, is the only line in the city that is not fully ADA accessible. The red streetcars that run along the Canal Street, Rampart and Riverfront lines are all ADA accessible.

The RTA has traditionally used vintage green Perley Thomas cars, first introduced in 1923, for the line, and the RTA has previously argued that it could not retrofit the cars and the line without jeopardizing historic authenticity. But previous litigation has forced the agency to introduce some accessible infrastructure.

In 2020, the RTA made 12 (six inbound and six outbound) of the St. Charles line’s 114 stops ADA accessible and added three ADA accessible streetcars to the route – the result of a 2017 consent decree, stemming from a class action lawsuit..

Currently two ADA accessible streetcars operate on the St. Charles line, allowing for hourly pick up at each stop.

In a board of commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Hankins stressed that the process to create greater ADA accessibility along the line will require cooperation and attention from the city, which will manage permitting, and will take years to complete.

“We will next work with the FTA to obligate the funds in the federal systems, and then we will hire a designer for the physical modifications that are required, then procure and construct the enhancements,” Hankins said in an emailed statement. “This is typically a 3-to-3.5-year process.”

RTA board chairman Mark Raymond Jr. is a wheelchair user who advocates for ADA accessibility, through his non-profit, Split Second Foundation. Raymond, who was not at the board meeting on Tuesday, told Verite News that he was “thrilled” to learn about the FTA grant in an emailed statement.

“The funding represents a significant step towards creating a more inclusive and accessible public transportation system for all individuals, including those with disabilities,” Raymond said . “These improvements will not only enhance mobility and independence for wheelchair users like myself but also benefit the entire community by promoting equality and inclusion.”

This article originally published in the June 3, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.