50度灰视频 County is moving ahead with plans to evaluate MetroLink expansions after last year's attempt collapsed amid questions over how the firm was chosen.
The county鈥檚 transportation department put on Monday out a request for qualifications for a consultant to conduct a planning study and evaluation of new MetroLink lines.
It鈥檚 the second attempt to find a firm to do the studies. Last year, . That effort was spearheaded by East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the region鈥檚 planning arm.
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Questions were raised when the three panel members employed by County Executive Steve Stenger chose Jacobs Engineering, which had donated $5,000 to Stenger.
Stenger鈥檚 office said in December that it was unaware of the donation before scoring the bids and that it would choose the firm through the county procurement process.
Now, the county transportation department is doing that by seeking bids to study the proposed lines, which are being called the Daniel Boone, MetroSouth and MetroNorth, which includes a Ferguson connector. The county has set aside $3 million for the studies.
On Wednesday, Stenger spokesman Cordell Whitlock said East-West Gateway would be involved in the process as well.
The winning firm is expected to be chosen April 5.
A $2 million study to evaluate another extension, the proposed Northside-Southside line, is being paid for with city parking funds. That study will update a 2008 analysis of the north-south line. The route, which has been estimated to cost $2.2 billion, 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.
Stenger in June until other routes also were studied and objected to the project being labeled as a regional priority without the endorsement of 50度灰视频 County.
Stenger鈥檚 letter came in response to a $530,000 grant application submitted by Bi-State Development, which oversees Metro Transit. It included seeking $375,000 in federal funds to help plan the Northside-Southside expansion,
Stenger has since said that he wasn鈥檛 arguing against the Northside-Southside route, but rather against the process. The move put Stenger in conflict with 50度灰视频 Mayor Francis Slay, who strongly supports the north-south line.
Here鈥檚 a synopsis by route what 50度灰视频 County is seeking in each study this time around, according to the new request for qualifications.
Daniel Boone
A 2000 East-West Gateway study identified this line, extending from north of Clayton to Westport, as a 鈥渓ocally preferred alternative.鈥 It was assumed the route would intersect, either north of Old Bonhomme Road or Page Avenue, or at a cross-county MetroLink extension in the Interstate 170 corridor.
That extension, from Clayton to the north, hasn鈥檛 been built.
For this study, the county wants to re-evaluate a light-rail route extending from the MetroLink blue line in Clayton to the Westport area. It also should look at whether the alignment using rights-of-way along Interstate 170, the former Rock Island rail line and Page Avenue remains viable, or if 鈥渁 modified alignment is more practical.鈥
MetroNorth
Among the recommendations of a 1997 East-West Gateway study for the cross-county corridor in the city and county was a light-rail extension from Clayton to north of Interstate 270. An alignment along Interstate 170 also was considered along a utility corridor for an extension north of Interstate 270.
For this study, the county wants to focus only on the segment of the recommended extension north of the existing MetroLink red line in the county, including a Ferguson connector. This study should consider an alignment turning east in the Interstate 270 corridor to West Florissant Avenue and south in the West Florissant corridor, linking to a Northside-Southside MetroLink corridor in the city. The county wants the study to assess destination and alignment alternatives in that broader corridor, then identify a single alignment for a more detailed evaluation.
MetroSouth
East-West Gateway in 2005 did a study on this corridor, which extends south from the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne Interstate 44 MetroLink station. Multiple light rail alignments were evaluated, without one being singled out.
For this study, the county wants a fresh look taken at an 鈥渙range alignment鈥 identified in the study, which would begin at the end of the MetroLink blue line, continuing west on River Des Peres/Germania to the Interstate 55 right-of-way, and extending south along Interstate 55 to Butler Hill Road.