St. Louis — Heritage Cars from Portland

January 2014

Despite litigation challenging the heritage trolley line and deadlines imposed by the Federal Transit Administration [FTA], the Delmar Loop Trolley project at the St. Louis inner suburb of University City remains on track, KMOX reports. A construction contract for the 2.2-mile line is expected to awarded in coming weeks. The project organizers have leased two Gomaco-built Brill semiconvertible replicas, pictured below, from Portland, Ore., TriMet for $80.000 for 10 years

Groundbreaking is planned for the spring with an opening scheduled for one year later, says Joe Edwards, chairman of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District. Elsie Beck Glickert, a former University City council member, argues in the lawsuit that the trolley plan was improperly voted on and would lay track beyond the boundaries originally set, but Edwards feels the suit has no merit.

The line will be 2.2-miles long stretching from the University City Lions in the west end of the Loop to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. According to Edwards Federal Transit Administration’s deadlines were met and a commission is reviewing bids in anticipation of awarding the construction contract within weeks. Unless the bids come in much higher than expected, construction should then start.