St. Louis — Slow Progress on Delmar Boulevard

Rail Transit Online, July 2009

The long-running plan to restore streetcar service along the Delmar Boulevard corridor continues making progress, albeit slowly. Engineering consultant CH2M Hill is conducting a design and engineering study that includes route alignments, traction power and vehicles. Opinions are also being sought from the local community.

The current plan calls for an L-shaped route, slightly over two miles (3.2 km) in length, connecting the University City Hall at Trinity and Delmar to the History Museum with a combination of single and double track along Delmar and DeBaliviere. It would also serve the Loop District, the Delmar and Forest Park MetroLink light rail stations and Forest Park.

Project promoters are hoping to submit an application for federal funding in November. "By the end of fall, the design and engineering should be at the 30-percent level," Joe Edwards, president of Loop Trolley Co., told the West End Word. "It will summarize everything, conclude where the track should be laid out, where the power will come from, where the turnarounds would be. A lot of questions will be answered in a specific way. It will be time to go back to Congress (for funding)."

A feasibility study completed in 2000 put the capital cost at $50 million. St. Louis scrapped its last streetcar line in 1966.