Under the Bush administration, streetcars struggled to get federal money. The Federal Transit Administration earlier this decade valued most of all how much time a transit project would save commuters, which made it difficult for slower-moving streetcars to receive federal dollars.
But on Dec. 1, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the FTA would pay for transit projects that improve a city's "livability."
I'm not sure how much this impacted the design of other projects, though I'm guessing that having to keep speeds up impacted routes and reduced the number of planned stops for some.