About the Loop Trolley
In 1997, a community planning group engaged in a collaborative process with the City of St. Louis, University City, and Metro to explore ways of cultivating development around the Delmar MetroLink Station, an area of pedestrian concern. Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill and staunch promoter of The Loop revitalization, suggested that the streetcar system that once built the area and gave The Loop its name could help attract the development needed to extend the Delmar Streetscape and link the Delmar Station to The Loop.
Metro helped finance a $200,000 feasibility study that estimated the cost of a new streetcar system in 2000. The study, completed in December 2000, suggested that an electric trolley line was indeed feasible and even more efficient and effective than a system of buses disguised to look like trolleys. While a fixed track system would cost more to build, the operating costs of a fixed track versus a rubber tire system were almost identical. The study showed that the fixed track system offered long-term viability, with a 70% higher ridership than the rubber tire system.
Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) along with Joe Edwards and others created the non-profit Loop Trolley Company (LTC). CMT secured a grant from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments and the Missouri Department of Transportation to purchase and renovate two historic vehicles for the new line. The renovation is complete and the cars are currently on display in front of the Missouri History Museum and Commerce Bank in The Loop. A preliminary engineering study wrapped up in May of 2011 with the Federal Transit Administration issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact. Final engineering is projected to commence in the summer of 2011 with construction underway in late 2011 or early 2012..
Loop Trolley Board of Directors
Robert Archibald, President
Missouri History Museum
Don C. Musick, III, Vice - President
Musick Construction Company
J. Kim Tucci, Vice-President
Past House Company
Ben Uchitelle,Treasurer
Attorney at Law
Joe Adams, Secretary
Rachel Keller Brown
Pelopidas, LLC
Karl Grice
Grice Group ARchitects
Lesley Hoffarth
Forest Park Forever
Sandra Moore
Urban Strategies
Nancy Rice
Peolopidas LLC
David Schmid
Regions Morgan Keegan Trust
Tom Schmittdiel
PSG MArketing Solutions}
Tom Sehr
Les Sterman
Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District
David Wakeman
AmerenUE
Rose Windmiller
Washington University
NON-VOTING
Kimberly Cella, Citizens for Modern Transit
Joe Edwards, Blueberry Hill
Maggie Hales, East-West Gateway Council of Governments
Thomas Shrout, Avvantt Partners LLC
Susan Trautman, Great Rivers Greenway
Timeline
2000 Feasibility Study by Metro
2002 CMT established Loop Trolley Company (LTC)
2005 LTC acquired and restored two vintage trolleys
2008 St. Louis City redesign of Delmar Bridge
2008 Transportation Development District (TDD) established
Expected to generate $300-$400K per year
Funds to be used for capital costs of project
2008 Planning and preliminary engineering study begins
2009 New "Trolley Ready" Delmar Bridge
over MetroLink to open
2009 Preliminary Engineering projected to be completed
in December
2010 Preliminary Engineering completed
2010 Awarded a $24.9 million federal urban circulator
grant
Identifying sources of Local matching funds including philanthropic
sources
2011 FTA issues a Finding of No Significant Impact
Comments
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