The head of the Federal Transit Administration on Tuesday toured neighborhoods where a proposed Northside-Southside MetroLink expansion would run, a top priority of Mayor Francis Slay as his tenure winds to a close.
Last month, Bi-State Development to look at transit-oriented development, including incentives for such projects, land use and zoning policies and access plans.
The city, Metro Transit and the East-West Gateway Council of Governments also will use the money to fund a study that will include evaluating sidewalks at each proposed station and making recommendations for service, employment, housing and recreation opportunities.
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One of the areas being examined is around the Cherokee Street business district. Carolyn Flowers, the FTA鈥檚 acting administrator, called it a good model for what could happen around stations on the north-south line, citing the area鈥檚 mix of residential and commercial development.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 give grants where we don鈥檛 see a local commitment,鈥 she said as she stood in the , about 1,000 feet from where a stop would be at Cherokee and Jefferson Avenue.
Officials on Tuesday defined the north-south route as being about 31 miles long from beginning to end, with 18.9 miles in the city and 12.6 in the county, and 38 total stops. The cost is estimated at $2.2 billion, of which the city鈥檚 portion would be $1.4 billion. It would stretch from north 50度灰视频 County near the Florissant Valley campus of 50度灰视频 Community College, into downtown and south 50度灰视频 and down Interstate 55 into south 50度灰视频 County.
A $2 million study to update a 2008 analysis of the north-south line is set to start in the next few months, said Jim Wild, executive director of East-West Gateway, the region鈥檚 planning arm. Part of that study will be examining an alternative that would serve the planned to be built in north 50度灰视频.
Wild joined Flowers on the tour of the north-south route led by Slay, who said at a news conference at the Flance Early Learning Center in the Carr Square neighborhood that the north-south line is needed to link people to jobs, education and health care providers. The center is in north 50度灰视频 in a ZIP code area where about half of residents don鈥檛 have cars.
鈥淭his, of course, is a very big, very expensive project that will take years in order to get done and a lot of work making sure we pull together the financing necessary to make it happen,鈥 Slay said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not going to be easy. It will be a challenge. It鈥檚 something we鈥檙e committed to do.鈥
He also had strong words for those who fear MetroLink expansion will bring increased crime to their neighborhoods.
Slay said light-rail expansion is an infrastructure investment that attracts development, and helps address, not spread, poverty and crime.
鈥淚f somebody says, 鈥榳e don鈥檛 want light rail in our neighborhood because we鈥檙e afraid those people are going to come here and steal and rob us,鈥 that is a racist statement and that鈥檚 absolutely wrong,鈥 he said.
Flowers also was set to take a look at other local projects that garnered federal dollars, including the Loop Trolley, which is set to open this spring, and the Eads Bridge, which recently underwent that was primarily paid for with federal funds.
Tom Curran, senior policy adviser to 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger, said he met with Flowers on Tuesday afternoon when she visited the North County Transit Center in Ferguson as part of that tour.
She did not travel any of the , he said, because none have received FTA funding for study, as the north-south route has.
鈥淎ll of that is coming. It鈥檚 just not time yet,鈥 he said of applying for federal dollars, saying the county still wants all routes up for consideration to be studied.
Stenger has said he wants all extensions put forward thus far studied before endorsing one over another. No consultant has been chosen to study the county routes.