Project Overview
St. Louis MetroLink Green Line (formerly the Northside-Southside Jefferson Avenue Alignment) is a transformational transit project that will connect residents to growing job centers in Downtown West and Midtown, educational opportunities, and healthcare services making St. Louis a more equitable and thriving city for all people. The Project Goals include providing more choices and access to growing and established job centers for residents with limited transportation options, and to invest in historically underserved or marginalized neighborhoods.
The proposed St. Louis MetroLink Green Line project is a 5.6 mile, in-street, dedicated light rail expansion in St. Louis, Missouri. The alignment will extend from the Fairground Park neighborhood at Grand Blvd. and Natural Bridge Ave. to Jefferson Ave. and south along Jefferson to Chippewa Street. The Green Line will connect to the existing MetroLink light rail service at a transfer station near Scott Avenue.
This locally preferred alternative (LPA) includes 10 stations with three design options. As part of this project, there will be 12 new light rail vehicles, a new transfer station for connection to existing MetroLink, and a dedicated maintenance facility at the existing Ewing Yard. Additional information and a map are available here.
In 2017, City of St. Louis voters passed Proposition 1, a half-cent sales tax to support funding a North-South MetroLink expansion and related economic development. The City has local funding and financing capacity and is prepared to meet local match requirements. Bi-State Development (BSD), and the City of St. Louis will be seeking grant funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program. The CIG program will provide up to 60% of the project funding. The City and BSD will also pursue federal, low interest loans backed by the voter approved sales tax that will fund an additional 20% of the project. The rest of the project funding will come from the sales tax obligations from the City and BSD.
A locally preferred alternative (LPA) is a key policy document that describes the project. On February 20, 2024, the region’s metropolitan planning organization, East-West Gateway Council of Governments, approved the LPA. This approval represents completion of the local planning phase. Now the project advances to environmental review and 30% design.
The project will have parking lanes as well as drive-through lanes. In some places, the project team is evaluating accommodating bicycle lanes. There would still be two lanes of traffic in certain segments. In other segments, potentially in the southern segment, it might go down to one lane in order to retain parking along the way.
There would still be two lanes of traffic in certain segments. In other segments, potentially in the southern segment, it might go down to one lane in order to retain parking along the corridor.
The Project Team has done preliminary studies on the suitability of the bridge to accommodate light rail. Preliminary analysis has shown the bridge can handle the addition of light rail. Further studies, by the project team, will determine the required modifications, configuration, and operations and will be integrating the findings into the design of the guideway crossing the bridge. The project team is also communicating with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to use the I-64 bridge crossing and designing the bridge to carry the light rail. The project team will be conducting a traffic analysis to understand how the proposed light rail would affect traffic on the bridge and throughout the corridor.
The project team is looking at the balance between more stations and overall cost. Currently, with the proposed stations, the Green Line has about a 19-minute end-to-end travel time. The distance between each station is less than a mile. The station design options are being considered in the environmental analysis. BSD is investigating the impacts on neighborhoods – as well as the impacts on ridership. BSD will evaluate travel times, headways, and different walksheds and conduct a traffic study to assess the pedestrian – walking distance, and vehicle driving distance between the stations. (A walkshed is the area around the station – or any central destination – that is reachable on foot by the average person.) The project team’s goal is to have a project that meets the requirements to obtain federal funding under the competitive Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program. For more information on the CIG program, see https://www.transit.dot.gov/CIG.
The trains will be running on a 10 minute – headway/frequency and a transfer station will be located near the I-64/Jefferson Interchange with elevator access to MetroLink’s Red and Blue lines below the Jefferson bridge.
The project, once funded by local funds and federal grants, would start construction in 2027/2028 on utility relocations, followed by street and station buildout. The target date for revenue service, opening day, would be late 2030-early 2031.
An important part of the preparation necessary to build the Green Line is the relocation of utility lines and equipment before building new infrastructure. Advancing this utility relocation ahead of major construction activities allows for a more efficient and streamlined construction effort. The work will include relocating water lines, sewer lines, communications lines, and where applicable overhead power lines.
The decision to choose light rail over electric buses often involves a trade-off between long-term benefits (e.g., capacity, permanence) and upfront costs. While light rail vehicles are more expensive initially, they historically provide higher capacity and attract more riders. City residents also voted in 2017 for a tax increase to support light rail expansion on the north-south corridor.
Considering Bi-State Developments Secure Platform Plan, the project team will integrate similar security measures into each of the new stations. This will include personnel, surveillance, and emergency response team.
The project team will be addressing safety concerns and improving the transit experience for users of light rail in this corridor.
Accommodating bikes and ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities are integral parts of transit design. There will be swing gates, with call boxes and cameras, which will be full, open gates for bicycle access and people with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The project team is looking cooperatively with both the City and St. Louis County at moving lines west of Natural Bridge. Other corridors are being investigated and are still in the alternatives analysis phase of the County’s study. Bus rapid transit loops in the North County area are also being considered.
Environmental Study
The St. Louis MetroLink Green Line has advanced to the environmental review and 30% design phase. NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) requires that state or local governments seeking federal funds for a project conduct an environmental review. This review ensures the project does not significantly impact key environmental resources (i.e. air quality, water, natural habitats) or low-income individuals or communities of color. Other possible impacts to consider during environmental review are parking, access, noise and parks. The NEPA process will take approximately 12 months.
During 30% design, project costs, timeline and major design elements such as the stations, lighting and pedestrian sidewalks will be fine-tuned. The project team continues to work diligently to identify cost savings.
In addition to the environmental review that considers key resources such as air quality, water quality, natural animal habitats; land use and equity are also considered. An environmental justice review will be done – taking into account historically disadvantaged people and neighborhoods. You can see some of the key populations considered during the study on the Study Area Maps page.
You are an important part of this process! Public feedback is required as part of the NEPA study. Please look for opportunities to attend our public events, or reach out to us to ask questions and receive additional information. Sign up to receive our email updates.
Project Partners
BSD is responsible for leading the project planning, design and construction. Once the Green Line is built, Metro Transit, a BSD enterprise, will operate and maintain the alignment.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has provided the leadership in working to bring light rail to City neighborhoods that need it the most, and in turn, making St. Louis a more equitable municipality. The City works closely with BSD and its Project Management Consultant to make sure each step of the federal planning process is followed and that the public is involved.
PMC stands for Program Management Consultant. Bi-State Development (BSD) has contracted with Northside-Southside (NS-SS) Transit Partners as their Program Management Consultant. NS-SS Transit Partners is a joint venture consisting of HNTB, KWAME Building Group, and KAI 360 Construction Services formed to provide BSD with a diverse, experienced and highly technical team. The PMC provides project management, oversight management of design and vehicles, and managing the Green Line Project through the Federal Transit Authority (FTA’s) Capital Investment Grant process, NEPA approvals, permitting, funding, and public involvement to support the project in receiving a Full Funding Grant Agreement and procurement of the construction for the Green Line LRT.
Noise/Construction
The project team will have a plan for traffic control, detours, and limited street closures. Temporary street closures are required as part of the construction process in order for construction crews to be effective and efficient, while also providing a safe working environment for both the crews and local residents and their property.
BSD and its contractor will actively coordinate with residents and businesses to provide notification of upcoming work, ensure continued access to property and provide alternative parking for residents who need it. Construction crews will be required to park off-site as possible to maintain current parking availability for homes and businesses.
The project team will be conducting a noise and vibration study, per the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) policies. As part of the environmental analysis and design, the project team is required to identify any and all applicable noise and vibration impacts and define mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate potential noise or vibration impacts. The results of the analysis will be presented in future meetings and on the project website once the analysis is complete. For more information, the Noise Fact Sheet is available online. There are also videos from light rail in comparable cities.
No, the current design does not include an underground option.
The project is currently in the environmental review process and preliminary design. The process will take about a year. The environmental determination document will be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for their review.
Other
The recording of this online meeting is available for viewing here. Or experience the public meeting virtually and give us your feedback on the project! Click this link to visit the StoryMap, walking you through the public presentation. You will be asked for your name and zip code to enter the presentation. We are collecting all comments through May 31, 2024 as part of the environmental study report.
The previous planning studies can be found here on East-West Gateway’s website.
