Memphis — Extension to Open

Rail Transit Online, March 2004

The Medical Center extension of the downtown trolley will open Mar. 15 with a week of free rides on the entire system.  The 2.5-mi. (4 km), six-station segment from the existing Main Street line to just beyond Cleveland Avenue in Midtown will cost just $55 million, nearly $20 million under budget.  Meanwhile, the Memphis Area Transit Authority reopened the downtown trolley loop on Feb. 19.  The Main and Riverfront lines were closed for several weeks while construction crews installed switches, overhead wiring and signals at Main and Madison, where the new route diverges from the existing tracks.  The extension will be served by the same fleet of heritage cars now in operation but the Midtown line would be converted to light rail if a proposed route from the Medical Center to the airport is built.  A recent poll of Memphis residents showed 73 percent supported an airport LRT connection.  The survey by Ragland Research also revealed that 14 percent of those responding said they would use the system daily, 21 percent would use it weekly, another 21 percent would use it once a month and 29 percent would ride infrequently.