Tacoma’s Transit Expansion Plans
A new street railway system proposed by the Commercial Trust Company aims to connect the waterfront with the Narrows, South Tacoma, and Point Defiance.
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At last night's meeting of the city council, an ordinance was introduced by Councilman Mahncke granting the Commercial Trust Company, of which Stuart Rice is president, the privilege of operating a street car system on certain streets of this city. The new system will touch parts of the city not reached by other lines. One line will start at Fifteenth and Dock streets, where the city market will be built; thence west along Fifteenth street to the Narrows. Another division will begin on Tacoma Avenue at Division Avenue and run south to the Northern Pacific right-of-way, across the gulch to the reservoir, and then branch to South Tacoma, American Lake, and Point Defiance.
“The new system will touch parts of the city that are not reached by other lines.”
The ambitious network proposed here laid the groundwork for the city's transit corridors that still define movement across the gulches today. Current transit planning in Tacoma remains a tense negotiation between private franchise interests and the public's need for accessible, city-wide connectivity.
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