A plan to bring trolley cars back to the streets of Roanoke will soon roll forward or stall out.
This month, the Greater Roanoke Transit Authority will hire a consultant to study the feasibility of the idea, which City Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick touts as a potential regional tourist draw.

Fitzpatrick, with the support of his council colleagues, asked City Manager Darlene Burcham to explore the concept last summer. The city administration then sought the help of the transit authority, which runs the city bus system.

With the city already pursuing a number of other public-improvement projects, Burcham said the trolley proposal will be sidetracked quickly unless it's paid for with federal transportation funds.

The $30,000 consultant study will include an assessment of funding options, plus a conceptual analysis and information about the planning and operation of a trolley system.

"This is still a preliminary step to see if this is something Roanoke wants to do," said Matthew Wynn, the transit authority's maintenance director.

Three consulting firms submitted bids to do the study, and an in-house authority committee will research each of the proposals and decide which firm to hire, Wynn said. That decision should be made by Wednesday, and the study should be done by May 10, he said.

Fitzpatrick, an outspoken train buff, knows the trolley system will cost money at a time when the city is pursuing more than $200 million worth of other projects, from replacements of its two high schools to the redevelopment of land for a biomedical and research park off South Jefferson Street. But he believes Roanoke is in a position to qualify for the federal funding.

Tampa, Fla., opened a trolley line and used federal funding to do it, said Fitzpatrick, who added that Roanoke should try to take advantage of the same opportunity.

Fitzpatrick helped start Roanoke's Commonwealth Coach and Trolley Museum four years ago, and his museum has acquired one old Roanoke trolley car and is attempting to buy another, he said. Those cars could be refurbished and put back into service to run routes along Jefferson Street as well as parts of Church, Salem or Campbell avenues, Fitzpatrick has said. The trolleys would fit in perfectly with a biomedical park. The line could be developed so trolley users could take a rail car up and down Mill Mountain from near the park - something that could increase the mountain's use and renown, Fitzpatrick said. Roanoke is one of a few cities in the nation that has a mountain entirely within its boundaries, and Fitzpatrick said the city isn't taking full advantage of that.

A trolley system could become a tourist draw for downtown and Mill Mountain as well as a way to refocus attention on Roanoke's train heritage, which Fitzpatrick believes is being undersold.

Streetcars were the main transportation mode in Roanoke in the early 1900s. The last trolley ran in 1948; an incline up Mill Mountain - the path of which is still visible - closed in 1929.

Reaction has been mixed to the trolley idea. Some say they would enhance the city's downtown atmosphere and its overall transportation system. But others say Roanoke, in general, has an unhealthy fascination with everything old, and reviving streetcars is just another example.