For anyone who has been even vaguely following the saga of the DC Streetcar, you know that the nearly-mythical cars are to be powered by overhead wires, like most systems in the rest of the world. These H Street wires were and still are controversial because of a presumed ban on overhead wires in the original L’Enfant city. After hearings and tussles, blog posts and outrage and I think about 300 trillion meetings, the city agreed to a compromise which allows the wires on H Street, but the department must include non-wire technology when it becomes available and the wires will not block important vistas, such as the Mall and monuments.
Well yesterday the wires were installed and I took these pics on my way to work this morning.
They don’t bother me, but I’m hardly an unbiased observer. So what do you think? Are they hideous?
That’s only the first set of wires, wait until the big power wires go in for the ugly to really show itself.