Informational Meeting on Loop Trolley Is May 16

Before the trolley bell rings, residents will have another opportunity to hear from the project organizers of the Loop Trolley.

There will be a public information meeting on the Loop Trolley at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at the  in the auditorium. A detailed presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. 

Construction on the long-awaited  is slated to begin in late fall, with a 2013 completion date.

Since a March meeting on the trolley at the , there have been several developments in the project. St. Louis County is to University City, Mayor Shelley Welsch announced April 25. 

Residents in the city of St. Louis along Lindell Blvd. told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they felt left out of the process. Citizens in University City expressed similar concerns at the last city council meeting.

The Route

The Loop Trolley route is a 2.2 mile fixed-rail trolley line along Delmar Blvd and DeBaliviere Avenue, extending from the Delmar/Trinity Ave. intersection to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. 

Operators plan to have nine station areas — five single stations and four paired stations — along the route.

The trolley itself will be a a restored trolley or replica heritage trolley that will operat on an Overhead Contact System (OCS). The OCS will use a single wire connected to light poles to run the trolley at speeds between 15-25 miles per hour.

Operations

Once operational, the trolley will run year round, seven days a week. Right now plans are to run the trolley from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday with extended hours until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays.

The trolley will move at 20 minute headways.

Project Costs

Planners anticipate construction costs to build the system to reach $43 million. They anticipate a yearly operating and maintenance costs of $1.3 million once the system is up.

Construction funding is coming from the following sources:

• $25 million from a Federal Urban Circulator Grant
• $6 million from other federal funding.
• $3.5 million from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Monetization
• $3.5 million from New Markets Tax Credits 
• $2-5 million in private donations.

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