St. Louis to Study North-South Rapid Transit…Again
Date Posted: January 20, 2022
Posted In: News,
From NextSTL: On Wednesday, Citizens for Modern Transit presented that St. Louis would once again enter into a study of north-south rapid transit. Alternatives to Light Rail Transit (LRT) will be explored over the next 15 months.
This is the third study in 14 years on a potential north-south route. Locals often call St. Louis a city of plans, and no example would be more poignant than this. While other cities have built out their rail networks over the past decade, St. Louis has delayed under fragmented and indecisive leadership.
In 2008, a study was published that identified a need for north-south rapid transit. In 2014, Scott Ogilvie (now a City of St. Louis Program Manager) wrote that it was time to build it. By 2018, a new study determined that LRT would run at-grade. Another four years have gone by and now in 2022, St. Louis is questioning whether LRT or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is the best option.
The idea that, after 14 years, all this city has to show for its studies is more studies is an abject failure. For folks in some of the most populated parts of our city, having rapid transit on their doorstep has been a specter of a dream for a large chunk of their lives. They have waited…and waited… and waited… to no avail. With our transit system gasping for breath, it is time that the region both implements innovative new solutions and invests in current operations to meet the needs of residents.
There is a potential silver lining with this announcement of a new study, though. The shift to studying an alternative like BRT could mean that while more time will be invested into the study, the actual buildout could be much faster than LRT. It took Indianapolis 15 months to build their Red Line BRT, which is 13 miles long.