DOWNTOWN : $500,000 More OKd for Cable Car Project

The City Council has approved a proposal to increase from $1 million to $1.5 million the design costs for restoration of Angels Flight, the twin cable-car system that once serviced Bunker Hill.

City officials had originally agreed to pay Harris & Associates $1 million to manage reconstruction of Angels Flight, built in 1901 and dismantled in 1969 to make way for redevelopment.

The $537,000 increase mainly arose out of the city’s decision to provide wheelchair access on one of the cable cars--even though the city’s historic railway is exempt from federal Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, officials said.

Council members on Wednesday unanimously approved the added expense to Harris’ contract, on the condition that an audit be done and that the Community Redevelopment Agency seek additional funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The council’s action also allows the Community Redevelopment Agency board to vote on a construction contract later this month, said Jeffrey Skorneck, Bunker Hill project manager for the agency.

Construction could then begin by December, and Angels Flight could be back on track by the end of 1995, Skorneck said.

Dubbed “the world’s shortest railway,” the restored orange-and-black rail cars will run on tracks half a block south of 3rd Street, between Hill and Olive streets.