First US-Made Streetcars In 60 Years

From the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Tucson, AZ, is getting a new streetcar system:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will award the City of Tucson, AZ with $63 million in federal stimulus funds today for the construction of a four-mile, $150 million modern streetcar system that will utilize streetcars manufactured by United Streetcar, LLC in Clackamas, OR. The streetcars are the first to be manufactured in the United States in 60 years, and thanks to Buy America policies, are spawning a domestic supply chain that is supporting good, middle-income jobs across America. ...

The buy-American provision in the stimulus bill will ensure that a light rail plan voters approved will lead to US jobs and may be operational as soon as 2012.

Expansions of light rail throughout the country could create a host of new jobs for laid-off manufacturing workers in the auto production supply chain. As it happens, given demand for their work, there are a lot of extremely productive people in the US.

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