Delmar Loop Trolley Back on Track
Date Posted: January 8, 2015
Posted In: News, Projects,
by Tom Finan, Executive Director, Construction Forum STL
The Loop Trolley project is back on track, after high construction bids delayed its start. A spokesperson for the Loop Trolley Transportation District said that the project is a definite “go” and that the first construction contracts should be awarded by the end of January.
The project was threatened with derailment in September, when bids came in $11 million higher than the $43 million project estimate. The electrical work was split into smaller packages, which reportedly resulted in a $1.9 million savings, and the rest of the work was rebid. Bid packages were submitted in mid-November and have been under evaluation since then.
Opponents of the project took advantage of the delay to criticize the project at a Nov. 24 meeting of the University City Council, the West End Word reported. The city approved a six-month extension of the projects permit at that meeting.
It was the fifth extension of the project’s permitting. But that just was minor delay: Loop Trolley has gone a long way to travel the short distance through the Delmar Loop. In December, Loop visionary Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill, the Tivoli Theatre, the Pageant, Pin-Up Bowl, the Moonrise Hotel, and the Flamingo Loop Diner, told ConstructForSTL that he first put forward the ideas of a trolley to unify the Delmar Loop in 1997.
The road to awarding construction contracts has been fraught with opposition, even extending to lawsuits. The same wide variety of ages, income levels, interests, and political opinions that Edwards says is at the heart of the Delmar Loop district’s success may have prolonged the project’s development process.
Edwards said he figures he has heard it all regarding the project, but notes, “For every four people with questions there are 40,000 who want to know when it will be done.” He cited statistical and other evidence that young people are increasingly disinterested in driving and want to get to their destinations quickly and without hassle. He believes that public transit is necessary to attract them to and hold them in St. Louis.
Construction of the trolley will return the district to its roots: The name of the Delmar Loop came from the fact that trolleys once “looped” there to begin their return routes. Edwards told ConstructForSTL that he knew from the beginning that general revenue funds would not be available for the project. The major funding source for the $43 million Loop Trolley project is a $25 million Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Urban Circulator Grant. The Loop Trolley is one of only five proposed projects out of 65 nationwide to receive the FTA grant.
FTA Urban Circulator Grants fund transportation systems, such as streetcars, that connect urban destinations and foster redevelopment of urban spaces into walkable, mixed-use, high-density environments.
In addition to the FTA grant, other funding sources include Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program and Surface Transportation Program (STP) grants; proceeds from the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District; and other sources. Funding for this project also is provided in part by Great Rivers Greenway District.
He also believes that trolleys could connect communities in the metropolitan area. He sees the Loop Trolley potentially extending into Clayton and to Forest Park.