For anyone who has ever wondered why unused railroad tracks crisscross Ballard, Jana Wright might have an answer for you.

Wright, a King County Metro trip planner, has compiled “The History of Transportation in Ballard,” which she presented Oct. 29 as "Where's my Trolley? – 155 Years of Transportation in Ballard" to a crowd of about 70 at the Ballard Public Library.

Wright wrote about Seattle’s streetcars; not the one on South Lake Union, but the system of streetcars that used to rumble throughout the city more than 60 years ago.

She explained how some of today’s bus routes serving Ballard—routes 15, 17, 18 and 28—run along routes that roughly parallel the city’s streetcar tracks.

The Ballard Historical Society hosted Wright’s talk after catching word of her historical research with Metro.

“We decided to do our calendar on transportation because we were so inspired by her report,” said Georgia Selfridge, the historical society’s president.

Wright’s hour-long talk covered transportation through Ballard’s history, from when the neighborhood was an independent city with mud roads through the streetcar era, the 1973 creation of King County Metro, all the way to today’s Metro RapidRide plans.

Her talk highlighted the new RapidRide program, a rapid transit, citywide bus system designed to quickly move people through the city’s heaviest transit corridors.

Ballard should receive its first RapidRide route sometime during 2012, according to the King County Metro Web site.

Some historical highlights from Wright’s talk:

-Washington State ferries served Ballard until the 1950s.

-When Ballard was a city from 1890 to 1907, the streets had different names. For example, Market Street used to be Broadway.

-Paved streets didn’t hit Ballard until the early 20th Century.

-Streetcar ridership peaked during the 1930s, but ridership dropped precipitously during the 1940s.

-The Ballard Beach streetcar took tourists to Golden Gardens, which was an early 20th Century Seattle tourist destination.

-The Greenwood Streetcar (now Route 48) was Ballard’s main connector to the University of Washington. Ballard residents had to go through Greenwood because Market Street did not connect through to the U-District (via Fremont).