U. City Underground

Look, I know some of you are saying, why is this guy getting so excited about this piddley little trolley line in a tired, old rust belt city? Well, my answer is that by digging this tunnel, St. Louis is beginning the process of digging itself out of the deep hole it dug for itself. Once the fourth largest American city (see US Census data for 1900 and 1910), St. Louis does not even appear in the current rankings for the top 50 American cities! I think that by linking the area’s two business centers, the new MetroLink line will do a lot of good for the economy and psyche of St. Louis. Will it lead to a great urban Renaissance? Perhaps not but surely it will provide a boost of a couple of rungs up the ladder. Some interesting transit-oriented development is likely to follow. The tunnel I’m referring to is in University City on the new Shrewsbury line (see my post of 3:29 PM on 08/20/06). A nice article about the tunnel appears in today’s Post-Dispatch.