urbanSTL

As much as I would hate the project to lose its funding, I think it's a good move by the FTA to light a fire under their butts. This project was supposed to be off the ground LAST YEAR and we still have nothing. I understand that large projects take a lot of time and collaboration to get moving, but come on. The delays on this one just seem ridiculous.

There is a strong stench coming from this project. I don't know what or who is holding it back, but we run the risk of the FTA overlooking future transit expansions in the region if we don't get it together. The streetcar should be up and running by now.

^I agree. Something doesn't add up.

When residents and property owners along DeBaliviere started complaining, I knew this project would be dragged out. Still, I thought this project was farther along than it is. These types of never-ending bureaucratic nightmares are what sets St. Louis back over-and-over. Where are the voices of Dooley and Slay in support of this project?

And hasn't the public been told all along that this project could be built for $43-million? Now all of sudden they don't know if it can built with that budget? W-T-F!?!?

This statement concerns me,

Blair and Poehler said the biggest remaining unknown is whether the firms bidding on the project could build the streetcar line within the $43 million budget.

Did Edwards and his original team low-ball this project? I hate when St. Louis takes the cheap low-ball route. The 2-mile street car systems in Cincinnati and Kansas City are just north of $100-million. Cincy's is stuck too, but KC's seems to be steadily moving forward despite hiccups and NIMBY obstacles there. Personally, I would like to see a modern streetcar - not a trolley with gross overhead wires, but this has to get going so the new focus can be on the Downtown/Central Corridor Streetcar and MetroLink expansion.

Also, the FTA seems to respect METRO so I doubt they would overlook transit expansions in St. Louis if this project bombs; however, I do see your point because anything is possible.

[GRUNTING]

^ this is a prime example of why St. Louis needs government reform, we need a consolidated regional planning dept. too. It takes waaaaaay too long to get anything off the ground here and I suspect that contributes to our anemic growth, this type of stuff has been happening for years.

arch city wrote:And by the way, if this project doesn't move forward, will that also compromise the 1-gig Loop project?

Yes, I think so. They're not going to dig up the streets just for the 1 Gb

In my opinion, Metro should step in AND run it. Maybe the FTA has hinted that Metro should take it over.

Why not?

If Metro knew better, it would take over the project just because of the reason goat314 cited earlier - they run the risk of being passed over for future grants because of the ineptness of the Loop Trolley Company - although METRO had nothing to do with it for the most part.

But what additional delays and bureaucratic BS would that entail?

Metro should be running these streetcar projects from the beginning. Even the proposed central corridor route.

^ I share the same sentiment but believe Loop Trolley would not happen if you throw up the arms now and everything was handed over to Metro as is. Metro seems determine to go forward on BRT as the next priority. In other words, I think things are to far along to be willing to give up the grant money and infrastructure build out as well which will put a serious drag on momentum for East Loop development. The key I believe is getting the track infrastructure right. If loop works as stand alone, great. If it doesn't, hand it over to a seasoned transit agency to see what makes sense going forward.

I'm still on the believe that once Loop tracks are layed that planning should look into how to get the Loop through Forest Park into Dogtown. The loop trolley is committed to Forest Park for better or worse. At this point, I can only see an upside of extended fixed transit to Dogtown just as previous posts noted an upside to exted western end in time to Clayton CBD

I do hope that the Central Corridor Streetcar will be handled by METRO from the get go and the priority will be there to make it happen. However, fearful that BRT push will put the downtown streetcar as a secondary. Unless I'm getting the wrong impression or understanding of what is Metro's current priorities.

KC is doing a great job putting together their downtown streetcar which makes a lot of sense considering that they didn't build out a light rail system. Instead, added BRT and now doing fixed transit on a much smaller scale relative to metrolink.

Alex Ihnen wrote:

goat314 wrote:Metro should be running these streetcar projects from the beginning. Even the proposed central corridor route.

But they won't because they're regional transit and development agency. The city is going to have to find another entity or establish some kind of special arrangement to get lines built in the city.

And thats a problem, in my humble opinion.

KMOX reported this morning that Joe Edwards is confident that the Loop Trolley Company will meet the 10/31/13 deadline. Ever since they've starting work with Metro's top engineer, things have fallen into place. His only concern is the government shutdown, which could create other issues.
Construction is slated for Feb. 2014, according to Mr. Edwards.

This is very good news. Let's hope they get this together!

From the Biz Journal Article on Oct. 11: "Edwards, who’s chairman of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District, said the project was granted an extension by the Federal Transportation Administration to submit final plans of the project. The deadline is now Oct. 31."

Hopefully we hear something positive on this project very shortly.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/al ... c13d0.html

This is not the news we were hoping for.

^ doesn't seem like this will go anywhere, there was plenty of time and opportunity for public input. This is the definition of frivolous lawsuit.

What this does show is that dragging your ass on a project of this importance will give any naysayers/pessimists time to sit down and think of ways to disrupt it. If this gets held up in court any significant amount of time it will likely be the end of this project....sad!

Guess we can't have nice things, infuriating.