By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Efforts are chugging along to get a trolley from University City into the Loop and around the Missouri History Museum. The man who proposed the idea says the line could be running in three to four years.
St. Louis city aldermen approved a resolution earlier this month to create a Transportation Development District. University City's council is expected to do the same early next month.
With voters' approval, a one-cent sales tax in the district would go toward the trolley.
Developer Joe Edwards, president of the non-profit Loop Trolley Company, says that will help secure federal funding for the project.
"It's real important for us to show the federal government that we as business people and we as a community support the project and can provide the operating funds to ensure that it operates in perpetuity," noted Edwards, who owns Blueberry Hill, the Tivoli, and a host of other buildings along the Delmar Loop.
Edwards' group recently secured $1.5 million from local and federal government for a feasibility study. It's expected to be completed in 18 months.