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In celebration of the start of the first segment of the controversial streetcar project, Mayor Mark Mallory broke ground Friday outside Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine.

Hundreds of citizens gathered as Mallory, City Manager Milton Dohoney, United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Metro CEO Terry Garcia Crews spoke of the benefits that the project’s development is expected to bring to the community.

“I think all of you know that we have been through a lot, but we are fortunate that we have so many enthusiastic supporters,” Mallory said. “Make no mistake, we are improving this city through the development of this streetcar. It is but one of many components that continue to make Cincinnati great.”

Liz Hauserman, a third-year planning student at the University of Cincinnati, said she is excited to see the final product.

“I’m definitely in favor of it,” she said. “We’ve been talking about the streetcar for three years in classes, and it’s really exciting to see it getting underway.”

The first phase of the streetcar project will include a four-mile-long route that is expected to make 3,700 trips each day during its first year in operation.

Charles Graves III, director of the Department of City Planning and Buildings for Cincinnati, also said he has high hopes for the planned transit system.

“I think it’s going to be an economic engine to vitalize this part of the city,” Graves III said. “I think it’s going to bring people back to the city. It’s one step in a lot of things that are happening.”

Willie Johnson, a downtown Cincinnatian, said he isn’t so happy about the project.

“It’s not going to do anything but back up traffic,” Johnson said. “Why not give more money to the buses? It’s going to be a headache. I would like to know how much it’s going to cost to ride the trolley when [citizens] can actually walk that far.”

The official fare price has not yet been determined, but the total cost for the first segment has been estimated at $95 million, with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments [OKI], according to the City of Cincinnati website.

“This is not just a streetcar. It’s going to be an economic corridor,” LaHood said. “If you enhance transportation, you put people to work. You’re putting American workers to work, building America’s infrastructure, and the streetcars are made in America.”

Ryan Welch, 31, of Cincinnati, said he sees the streetcar project as the first step to better transportation service.

“It’s not exactly what I wanted,” Welch said, “But if it’s the best the city can get, I say go ahead and build it.”

The Streetcar project has partnered with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority [SORTA] to make sure the routes do not conflict with existing bus routes.