File photo. Construction in preparation for the downtown streetcar route.
As big losses go, voter rejection of phase two of the streetcar system could have cost the city much more, officials said Thursday.
When voters cast it aside in August, they said, the city had about $8.1 million in contracts to move it forward with community involvement, engineering and environmental efforts.
Only about $1.1 million of that has been spent, including $50,000 in city staff costs, and no more will be paid out, Ralph Davis, streetcar project manager, reported to the city council.
The $3.7 million contract with HDR engineering and the $4.3 million contract with Burns and McDonnell were done to prepare for work needed to seek federal funding for much of the expansion that was to cost more than $500 million.
But the line planned to run down from Union Station to UMKC with side branches east on Linwood and Independence Avenue had to get a local source of funding before that, and voters rejected it.
City officials had hoped they could quickly go for federal funding before President Obama left office. Now they say an expansion effort will have to wait until after the 2-mile downtown streetcar system starts, probably in early 2016.
Who’s talking