Politics & Government
Road Reconstruction Grant Could Revive St. Charles Trolley Service
The St. Charles City Council has approved the submission of a grant application for the reconstruction of Fifth Street—with the condition that St. Charles bring back its trolley service.
At Tuesday's meeting of the St. Charles City Council, a grant application was approved that could—eventually—bring the city's signature red trolleys back into service.
The grant, which is being submitted to the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grant Program (TIGER), would reconstruct the Fifth Street-First Capitol Drive Corridor between Boone's Lick Road and Lindenwood University.
If the grant should be approved, it would commit the city to providing matching funds and obligate the city to reviving the trolley service.
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Council President Dave Beckering was the first to question a section of the grant that mentioned the trolleys.
"Last time we had a TIGER grant discussion, the council agreed to take the trolleys out until we had a plan," he said. "How important is that to the application?"
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"We don't want to see any more empty trolleys," Beckering said.
City engineer Kevin Corwin said that it would obligate the city to operate the trolleys again, but that no time frame was spelled out.
"Our Main Street is unique in the nation," Corwin said. "We want to capitalize on that." He talked about the history of transportation in the St. Charles area—Lewis and Clark on the river, the railroad depot, the plank road and the nation's interstate system that began near Fifth Street in 1955.
He said that a plan for the trolleys would only utilize one at a time, with one for backup.
Council member Laurie Feldman said that for the community to be viable, it needed to provide transportation routes between "fixtures" of the community, such as the Streets of St. Charles and the Convention Center.
"We should be able to move people around around our community without have to use their vehicles," Feldman said.
"There's never going to be enough parking," Feldman said. "If we provide a (transportation) system, it can only help us."
The city discontinued the free trolley in 2010 when it determined that the service was costing about $15 per rider.
, but the city used the money instead for renovations at the tourism office on Main Street.
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