Shine On You Crazy Diamond! Bob’s Red Hook Trolley Could Happen

By on September 9, 2010 9:08 pm in News, Transportation

Diamond in stripes / photo Herbert Alfred Mayer via Flickr

All Bob Diamond had to do was threaten to quit his popular Atlantic Tunnel tours and magically his dream of a Red Hook to Atlantic Avenue trolley line is brought back to life.  Coincidence? Maybe.  Super-fantastic? You bet.

Diamond began his quest for the trolley back in 1989.  Rep. Nydia Velasquez scored a $295k federal grant in 2005 to fund a study.   But that effort was stalled in a little web called the DOT who wanted Diamond to  find a way to pay for the trolley project  himself.  Now according to a report in the NY Post the city has hired consultants to field the study for the project that Diamond believes will cost between $10 – $15 million.

Forgotten NY has a little more history and some great photos here.

NY Post: The study will include community meetings and a technical analysis of the area’s needs and demographics as well as determine how it would affect vehicle traffic on city streets where the line would run.

Nearly a decade ago, Diamond’s BHRA proposed a trolley route running from existing tracks at the Van Brunt Street waterfront, north up Richards Street and then along Columbia Street, before hitting the park at Atlantic Avenue and then heading east to Borough Hall.

Advocates say light-rail lines are much cheaper and quicker to build than subway lines and use far less energy. They run on existing streets, normally without the need to eliminate parking spots.

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  • George Earl

    Would such a tour attract enough people to make “real money”? I kind of doubt it. That would be absolutely necessary to keep it running, and/or make it attractive enough to bring in longtime residents of this area and tourists. Let’s think business, boys, not just history.

  • http://loscalzo.posterous.com Homer Fink

    This is not about a tour, it’s about an actual trolley line that would connect Red Hook to Atlantic Avenue.

  • Lou K.

    This trolley line would be fantastic! It’d be great to take it from the Heights to Fairway, and I imagine there are lots of folks in Red Hook which would take it to get to the subway.

  • rob

    wow- a great way to get to Red Hook

  • michele

    I new Bob Diamond way back when he had the maps, knew it was there but hadn’t yet gone under. It was all he could speak of and over 20 years later Bob’s committment to his dream and to our Brooklyn’s history and to a means of transportation that is not merely nostalgia but a plan that makes absolute and wonderful sense. This is a long time coming for Bob and for Brooklyn. The man and his plan get my vote, my support and my most sincere thanks. Now is the time and we have Bob to thank for his dedication and his dream! A blown kiss and a hat waved in the direction of Bob Diamond and his rail.