The H Street/Benning Road Line was a line of DC Streetcar. It had eight stations and began operation on February 27, 2016. The line runs along H Street NE and Benning Road NE in Washington, D.C. In September 2016, service was increased from six days a week to seven, and with shorter 12-minute headways. It ceased operations on March 31, 2026.
History Since the dismantling of Washington, D.C.'s original streetcar lines, the corridor had been served by Metrobus's X2 route.
In 2003, Mayor Anthony A. Williams unveiled a draft Strategic Development Plan which proposed redeveloping and revitalizing six blighted areas of the city, including H Street NE and Benning Road.Wilgoren, Debbi. "New Residences, Stores To Transform H Street." Washington Post. March 13, 2003. Among the proposals to revitalize H Street was the construction of a streetcar line to downtown D.C. in five to 10 years. The plan was formalized during the next year.Deane, Daniela. "H Street NE, The Next Hot Spot." Washington Post. June 12, 2004. Residents and business owners in the area were cautious about the plan, fearing traffic congestion and threats to pedestrian safety in an area which needed greater auto and foot traffic.
On January 20, 2006, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation announced that it would build a $13 million streetcar line on H Street NE, from Union Station to Benning Road and the Minnesota Avenue Metro station as part of its Great Streets initiative,Schwartzman, Paul. "Turning Northeast's H Street Into Main Street." Washington Post. February 9, 2006. on much of the same route established by the Columbia Railway Company in 1870. Construction was originally planned to begin in the spring of 2007 (to coincide with extensive improvements to parking and lighting and the beautification of H Street NE) and end in 2009.Thompson, Robert. "A (Working) Cure for the Trolley Blues." Washington Post. October 15, 2006.
Extension dropped; track construction
By 2008, the extension to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station had been dropped, and the H Street streetcar line was being designed to link up with a planned downtown streetcar line running along the same route as the downtown routes of the DC Circulator bus.Sun, Lena H. "Streetcars Could Be Running on D.C. Roads by Late Next Year." Washington Post. July 13, 2008.
Streetcar tracks were installed on H Street as part of the H Street/Benning Road Great Streets project that was started in December 2007 and ended on June 30, 2011. Plans in 2009 were for the streetcar to start operation in 2011, but city engineers, had yet to determine how to get power to the cars, identify locations for the cars to turn around, or find land for a car storage facility for use at night when the line was not running.
Planned extension to Benning Road Metro In April 2010, DDOT officials announced that they intended to build a $74 million, extension of the H Street line that would link with the Benning Road Metro station. The district had applied for a $25 million federal grant to help pay for the extension. DDOT also announced a plan to link the line to Union Station, in order to connect the H Street line's eastern terminus with the Union Station Metro and Amtrak. The city said it owned a right-of-way underneath the existing Amtrak railroad tracks on which it would build the extension. In September 2017, the district issued an RFQ for engineering work related to the extension.
The city also began encouraging riders to travel along the H Street corridor to Benning Road in 2009. The "H Street Shuttle" was founded in early 2009 by the H Street Business Cooperative (a nonprofit group of retailers whose businesses line H Street) to promote travel into the business district.Alcindor, Yamiche. "D.C. Finds Funds to Put H Street Shuttle Back on Road Again." Washington Post. December 8, 2009. The shuttle ran between the and Metro stations, making just four stops along the way. The city provided $130,000 in operating funds in 2009 (although the shuttle did not run for a short period in November 2009 due to funding cut-offs). The shuttle also encountered public safety problems, as fistfights sometimes broke out between rowdy youths riding the shuttle.Rosiak, Luke. "H St. Shuttle Continues Through Year." Washington Post. October 25, 2010. The shuttle has also had eggs thrown at it, been shot at with BB guns, and youth have attempted to slash its tires while it made stops. Although it was intended to be a temporary measure to bring customers into the retail corridor while streetcar construction occurred, D.C. officials said they would fund the shuttle only through the end of 2010.
Electrification dispute Local preservationist groups such as the Committee of 100 on the Federal City as well as regional planning bodies like the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) have opposed the current design of the streetcar system, which relies on overhead electrical wires and a pantograph to conduct power to the streetcar motor. Opponents of the design cite an 1889 federal law banning such systems in Georgetown and the historic center city (defined by the Florida Avenue NE and NW south to the Potomac and Anacostia rivers). The NCPC has also opposed use of the wires along H Street NE, the 11th Street bridges, and in Anacostia. These groups have proposed a design change that would rely on wireless technologies, such as battery-powered vehicles which rely on conduit current collection (in which a metal arm or "plow" is inserted into a channel in the street and draws power from cables under the roadway). But District of Columbia officials say the current overhead lines are not visually obtrusive, and that conduit collection systems are costly and break down easily in cities with wet climates.
City transportation planning officials have also proposed building a system that would run on wires outside the historic core but switch to a hybrid battery/conduit system inside the area. On May 31, 2010, 12 of the council's 13 members co-sponsored a bill to exempt the H Street Line from the 1888 and 1889 laws that banned overhead electrification in the city's historic core.Rein, Lisa. "D.C. Seeks to Lift Ban on Overhead Wires." Washington Post. June 1, 2010. The legislation required that the mayor's office develop a citywide plan by 2014 to determine where additional overhead electrification could be permitted. The Committee of 100 supported the planning requirement,DeBonis, Mike. "Gray Gets Flak Over Late-Night Flip-Flop on Streetcar Funds." Washington Post. June 3, 2010. and the legislation passed the council on June 29, 2010.Halsey III, Ashley. "Dispute Deepens on Overhead Wires for D.C. Trolley." Washington Post. July 2, 2010.
But in late June 2010, the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission, L. Preston Bryant Jr., sent a letter to the Federal Transit Administration demanding that $25 million in federal money intended for the streetcar project be withheld until the NCPC and city reached agreement regarding the overhead electrification issue.O'Connell, Jonathan. "Funding for D.C. Streetcar System at Issue During Overhead-Wiring Dispute." Washington Post. June 26, 2010. The NCPC said they had legal advice which indicated that only Congress had the power to rescind the 1888 and 1889 laws. City council members, who had been negotiating with the NCPC, said the NCPC's action was a sign of bad faith in the talks. DDOT Director Gabe Klein said the NCPC was "blackmailing" city leaders, and that the NCPC was overstepping its boundary as a purely advisory body. Klein asked Bryant to rescind his letter, arguing that Bryant had purposefully misstated the city's plans for overhead electrification (claiming it would install overhead wires on the National Mall and near Congress) and asserting that the H Street Line was not covered by the 1888 and 1889 laws. Klein also cited two previous legal opinions which concluded the city had the power to rescind the 1800s legislation. On July 13, 2010, the D.C. Council passed legislation to allow the overhead wires along Benning Road and H Street NE.Marimow, Ann E. "Council Clears Tracks For Trolley Cars." Washington Post. July 13, 2010. The legislation specifically banned the wires around the National Mall and along Pennsylvania Avenue between Capitol Hill and the White House, and established a process for seeking public and other input on whether wires should be used elsewhere in the city.
Funding issue, plans revised
Funding for the DC Streetcar system became an issue in 2010. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed spending $60 million to $70 million in his fiscal 2011 budget to complete the H Street Line and purchase six trams, with a goal of activating the line in the spring of 2012.O'Connell, Jonathan. "Commercial Property Owners May Be Asked to Pay for Part of Streetcar Costs." Washington Post. May 17, 2010. Funding for other lines would be withheld until the city was assured that the H Street Line was a success. Fenty also released the results of a study commissioned by the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) and researched by the Brookings Institution, Robert Charles Lesser & Co. research firm, and Reconnecting America (a non-profit public transit advocacy group) which found that the DC Streetcar system could increase the value of businesses along the H Street Line by $1.1 billion over 20 years.
Fenty proposed levying a $375 million tax on businesses on the H Street Line to help pay for the streetcar system. But on May 25, 2010, the D.C. City Council voted to delete $49 million in proposed streetcar funding in order to help close a $550 million budget deficit.Norton, Monica. "Council Votes to Strip Funds for Streetcars." Washington Post. May 26, 2010. DC Streetcar advocates accused Sarah Campbell, capital budget director for the City Council, for deleting the funds, pointing out that Campbell is also a member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City (which opposed the streetcar system as currently planned). DDOT Director Gabe Klein accused the Council of killing the program. Campbell denied both allegations. The Washington Post reported that the budget battle may have been sparked by Council Chair Vincent C. Gray, who was likely to challenge Fenty for the Democratic nomination for mayor in September 2010.Craig, Tim and Stewart, Nikita. "Gray Reverses Course to Back D.C. Streetcars After Late-Night Budget Maneuver." Washington Post. May 27, 2010. The following day, after hundreds of angry phone calls from residents, the Council restored the funds by agreeing to borrow the money.
On October 23, 2010, D.C. transportation officials published a revised plan for the DC Streetcar system. The new plan envisioned opening the H Street/Benning Road and Anacostia lines in March or April 2012. It also significantly scaled back the Anacostia Line, truncating the northern end of the line at the Anacostia Metro station. The plan estimated the cost of constructing the two lines at $194 million, with operating costs at about $8 million per year. DDOT officials said they believed 6,350 riders per day would pay the $1 fare in the system's first year, with ridership tripling to 23,450 riders a day in 2015. The cars would be equipped to accept SmarTrip cards but not cash, and officials said anyone transferring from Metro to the DC Streetcar system using a SmarTrip card would ride for free. The streetcars were expected to operate every 10 to 15 minutes, seven days a week, during the same hours Metro's rail system was in operation.