Between Downtown Chesterfield, Olia Village, and the 170 Crossing, what else would it take to convert the 91 to a rapid bus line from Chesterfield to the Delmar Metrolink station?Auggie wrote: ↑May 30, 2025St. Louis County making an actually positive forward thinking decision to help its own and the entire region's development challenge: (Impossible)
You'd think STL County would at least be looking into some type of new transit line to properly service "Downtown Chesterfield".
This is actually a great chance for Spencer to put her money where her mouth is and work with the County on making the Green Line work, if she's serious. I would give her major credit if she moved to work with the county to make it work.goat314 wrote: ↑Jun 07, 2025I'm at the point where I think we should scrap the Green Line. Without cooperation with county for the massive line that would have went from North County to South County via the city, I don't think it does as much good as it could. I'd rather see the St. Louis Streetcar idea revived. For the price of the Green Line we would probably get more bang for our buck building a modern streetcar network like KC that feeds into the Metrolink spine. A line that goes to Tower Grove Park, Faigrounds Park, Soulard, etc. The lines would be a few miles at most, and the focus should be on redeveloping these neighborhoods into dense urban corridors.
I wouldn't hold my breath. We had a great opportunity right after Ferguson when there was momentum and the felon Stenger bombed that one. It would probably be built by now.Auggie wrote: ↑Jun 08, 2025This is actually a great chance for Spencer to put her money where her mouth is and work with the County on making the Green Line work, if she's serious. I would give her major credit if she moved to work with the county to make it work.goat314 wrote: ↑Jun 07, 2025I'm at the point where I think we should scrap the Green Line. Without cooperation with county for the massive line that would have went from North County to South County via the city, I don't think it does as much good as it could. I'd rather see the St. Louis Streetcar idea revived. For the price of the Green Line we would probably get more bang for our buck building a modern streetcar network like KC that feeds into the Metrolink spine. A line that goes to Tower Grove Park, Faigrounds Park, Soulard, etc. The lines would be a few miles at most, and the focus should be on redeveloping these neighborhoods into dense urban corridors.
Oh I'm not. My expectation is that Spencer will be a horrible mayor for transit in general. So I'm hoping she puts her money where her mouth is and works with the county on a full line and proves me wrong.goat314 wrote: ↑Jun 08, 2025I wouldn't hold my breath. We had a great opportunity right after Ferguson when there was momentum and the felon Stenger bombed that one. It would probably be built by now.Auggie wrote: ↑Jun 08, 2025This is actually a great chance for Spencer to put her money where her mouth is and work with the County on making the Green Line work, if she's serious. I would give her major credit if she moved to work with the county to make it work.goat314 wrote: ↑Jun 07, 2025I'm at the point where I think we should scrap the Green Line. Without cooperation with county for the massive line that would have went from North County to South County via the city, I don't think it does as much good as it could. I'd rather see the St. Louis Streetcar idea revived. For the price of the Green Line we would probably get more bang for our buck building a modern streetcar network like KC that feeds into the Metrolink spine. A line that goes to Tower Grove Park, Faigrounds Park, Soulard, etc. The lines would be a few miles at most, and the focus should be on redeveloping these neighborhoods into dense urban corridors.
I picture some of it is the costs associated with needing a bridge over the Missouri River along with the issue of the Red Line needs to be extended a few miles west first. ideally the bridge part could be coupled with any Blanchette Bridge replacement into a multipurpose bridge since the older span may be nearing end of life in next 20 years.Jallen26 wrote: ↑Jun 06, 2025I am currently on an advisory board for the city of St. Charles and we have been tasked with reviewing the 10 year comprehensive plan for the city. I was the only person on the board that very strongly advocated for keeping MetroLink a goal as it was on the original plan that was created in 2000 and refreshed in 2012. Although it will not come as a shock, by the end of our meeting any reference to "MetroLink" were scratched from the Comprehensive Plan.
I am not sure. Though one issue is Texas Eagle uses that line and unsure how much use UP has for it. There is also the commuter/regional rail idea of using that corridor for a line into Jefferson County. in addition, another option is to going along the ROW and add tracks.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Could N/S funds legally be used for a line along the Oak Hill ROW? It is technically still a N/S line. Obviously the ROW would have to be acquired, but should it fall into our hands it could theoretically be pretty cheap to build out with metro
Just looking at the language of the referendum from 2017, I imagine it would be a legal use.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Could N/S funds legally be used for a line along the Oak Hill ROW? It is technically still a N/S line. Obviously the ROW would have to be acquired, but should it fall into our hands it could theoretically be pretty cheap to build out with metro
Connecting Soulard to Downtown and then both the north and south sides of downtown would be a good start IMO.addxb2 wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Downtown TID sales + property tax similar to KC Streetcar. Downtown Citizen Commission should determine the starting 2 miles of the line. St. Louis streetcar. City matches TID 2:1 in seeking federal funding.
Remainder of the N/S MetroLink funding grows interest and Downtown TID acts as another funding mechanism to build the system out two miles at a time.
I would prefer a Soulard to Downtown streetcar rather than the E-W proposal years ago as well. Soulard provides a lot of the things that downtown is missing and is possibly our most well received neighborhood by outsiders. It makes the most logical sense to me functionally as things stand now and for development opportunities. The area between downtown and soulard just kills their connection and a streetcar would bridge that in the short term and incentivize the development to make them more seamlessly walkable in the long termAuggie wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Connecting Soulard to Downtown and then both the north and south sides of downtown would be a good start IMO.addxb2 wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Downtown TID sales + property tax similar to KC Streetcar. Downtown Citizen Commission should determine the starting 2 miles of the line. St. Louis streetcar. City matches TID 2:1 in seeking federal funding.
Remainder of the N/S MetroLink funding grows interest and Downtown TID acts as another funding mechanism to build the system out two miles at a time.
I agree, lines that sprout out N-S from the Metrolink spine would be better for the city as whole.delmar2debaliviere2downtown wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025I would prefer a Soulard to Downtown streetcar rather than the E-W proposal years ago as well. Soulard provides a lot of the things that downtown is missing and is possibly our most well received neighborhood by outsiders. It makes the most logical sense to me functionally as things stand now and for development opportunities. The area between downtown and soulard just kills their connection and a streetcar would bridge that in the short term and incentivize the development to make them more seamlessly walkable in the long termAuggie wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Connecting Soulard to Downtown and then both the north and south sides of downtown would be a good start IMO.addxb2 wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Downtown TID sales + property tax similar to KC Streetcar. Downtown Citizen Commission should determine the starting 2 miles of the line. St. Louis streetcar. City matches TID 2:1 in seeking federal funding.
Remainder of the N/S MetroLink funding grows interest and Downtown TID acts as another funding mechanism to build the system out two miles at a time.
is Oak Hill ROW the rail that runs just south of Tower Grove, goes under Morgan Ford?GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Jun 11, 2025Could N/S funds legally be used for a line along the Oak Hill ROW? It is technically still a N/S line. Obviously the ROW would have to be acquired, but should it fall into our hands it could theoretically be pretty cheap to build out with metro
My assumption is that a Morganford station would instantly make those light industrial parcels prime for redevelopment. I think that the problem with our current Metrolink not getting the desired TOD around stations is more a function of our development community and local governments simply not understanding TOD. I think recent developments at Debaliviere Station and Grand Station show that maybe that tide is turning, but I can't imagine any other pro-development type of city would have the dearth of development around it's stations that St. Louis has. Even Bob Clark mentioned that the lack of development around Metrolink stations is totally a leadership failure.PeterXCV wrote: ↑Jun 16, 2025^Yes.
For me, I'm not sure. In my dream of dreams it'd be a regional rail line but I feel like utilizing freight rail right of ways for light rail doesn't have a great track record (stations and lines tend to end up far from neighborhood centers and aren't particularly accessible). For example, a station at Morgan Ford, if it were proposed, would be inconvenient to access for Tower Grove South residents to the east of Bent Ave due to the industrial area in between. Similar issues would come up for a potential stops at Chippewa/Meremac/Gravois, Shaw, etc.
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I just think the speed to realizing the benefits in construction time and costs might be enough for this to make more sense than some of our other plans...dblarsen314 wrote: ↑Jun 17, 2025I've always loved the idea of utilizing the Oak Hill ROW for certain segments of a N/S line and then sending the line underground to allow for the construction of more centralized stations in some of our neighborhood commercial corridors. I'm not sure if this would in reality save any money, but having stations that support our current developments nodes as well as potential stations for in-fill TOD would be great to support existing neighborhoods and support new development.
I've made a fantasy map years ago regarding this idea that I'll see if I can find.
