DDOT Director Leif Dormsjo says he’s hitting the reset button on the often-delayed H Street streetcar.

What that really means: Safety certification will continue, but DDOT won’t announce any more opening dates until they’re sure. And Dormsjo will reorganize DDOT’s streetcar management team.

Several times under former Mayor Grey, DDOT announced potential opening dates for the streetcar. But in all cases those dates were goals, and at least some of them were clearly based on political wishful thinking. But the public perceived them as solid deadlines, and missing them has contributed to souring public support for the project.

Now, Dormsjo says that’s over. DDOT will no longer make public predictions about the coming opening date. That’s probably good news.

On the other hand, there’s a lack of trust between DDOT and the public right now, and clamping up entirely will not repair it. It’s well and good for DDOT to cease making poor predictions, but “trust us, we’re working on it” won’t be a satisfactory answer for long.

What sort of reorganization Dormsjo has in mind is not yet public info.

WAMU reporter Martin DiCaro is live-tweeting streetcar news today, and will likely have the full story later.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.