Streetcar Reroute Proposed for McKinley Park Line
A potential deal between the city and the Tacoma Railway & Power Company could resolve a dangerous crossing at East D Street.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
If President Barling and the Tacoma Railway & Power Company can agree on the matter of paying for a new bridge over the Twenty-sixth Street gulch, the McKinley Park car line will be taken off Puyallup Avenue entirely and put up on Twenty-sixth Street, thus eliminating the dangerous railway crossing where the two lines cross on East D Street. The matter has been taken up and a conference will likely be held while Mr. Barling is here. If the change is made, the McKinley Park street cars would run up Pacific to Twenty-sixth and out that street to East D and then so on up the hill. It would take a new bridge on Twenty-sixth to carry the cars across the gulch, and the city may be asked to help finance the final cost.
“The McKinley Park car line will be taken off Puyallup Avenue entirely and put up on Twenty-sixth Street, thus eliminating the dangerous railway crossing.”
Infrastructure battles over transit connectivity and safety are as relevant in Tacoma today as they were in 1909. While the streetcar lines of old are gone, the city continues to navigate complex cost-sharing agreements for bridges and rail corridors.
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