An art project about the historic streetcar in the border communities of El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, sparked public interest and then took on a life of its own. This month, the streetcars that once rolled through both border communities are back on the streets of El Paso, a demonstration of the power of art to capture the imagination of a community and create a better future.
El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico sit immediately adjacent to one another, separated only by the Rio Grande River and the international border between the U.S. and Mexico. Today, the two cities form the world’s largest binational metroplex, with billions of dollars in trade and thousands of daily crossings by foot, car, and bus. And until 1974, many of those border crossings were The project began with a series of large posters in downtown El Paso and Juárez advertising the return of the El Paso-Juárez streetcar, and continued with the deployment of Alex the Trolley Conductor, a new mascot and spokesperson for the alleged new service (pictured right). Alex appeared at Comic Cons, public parks, conferences, and other events to promote the return of the streetcar. Alex and the posters caught the attention of local residents and media, sparking curiosity and excitement for what many assumed was a real project.
According to Svarzbein, one of the guiding principles of the project was to help the city and region “imagine a better future, because if you can’t imagine a better future you can’t have one.”
“An artist thinks differently, imagines a better world, and tries to render it in surprising ways. And this becomes a way for his/her audiences to experience the possibilities of freedom that they can’t find in reality.”
– Guillermo Goméz-Peña
Back to the future
Svarzbein returned to El Paso after his thesis wrapped up in 2011. Given the local attention that the Transnational Trolley Project had garnered and the city’s plans to sell the old streetcars—which had been stored on the edge of town, open to the elements since 1974—he began a campaign to bring back a vintage trolley line with the original El Paso streetcars.
After gathering thousands of signatures in support of the project, the City of El Paso approached the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for a $97 grant to build a streetcar line in the city. TxDOT agreed, if the city pulled together shovel-ready plans for the line and rounded up $4.7 million in local funding. El Paso did so, and then waited. A new mayor came to power, and “political winds began to shift, so rather than wait,” Svarzbein ran for city council to make this streetcar a reality. In July, 2015, Svarzbein won a seat as the District 1 representative on the city council.
In the El Paso region, “we’ve always viewed the border as an opportunity, not as a threat,” according to Svarzbein. A transnational streetcar system would provide greater economic opportunity for the entire region, enhancing relations between the two sister cities and facilitating the exchange of goods and ideas. To that end, as part of the regional 2045 plan—Destino 2045—there is an international pedestrian transportation system envisioned within the next 10-15 years.
The story of El Paso’s streetcar is another example of how transportation professionals are exploring new, creative, and contextually-specific approaches to planning and building transportation projects. They are collaborating with artists and the community in new ways to transform transportation systems into powerful tools to help people access opportunity, drive economic development, improve health and safety, and build the civic and social capital that binds communities together.