The Central Corridor Transit Enhancement Study

Cortex Station 2

The Bi-State Development Agency (dba Metro Transit) seeks 2014 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER 2014) funding for the Central Corridor Transit Enhancement and Job Access Program. The project includes three major components in the Central Corridor of St. Louis City:

  • Construction of a new in-line light rail station in the emerging Cortex Innovation Community, a 200-acre redevelopment district in the heart of the City of St. Louis. The proposed location for the new station is roughly half-way between two existing stations: the Central West End station about 2/3 mile to the west, and the Grand Station about one mile to the east. The new at-grade station would be located in the heart of the Cortex innovation district and serve both this growing mixed-use community and the surrounding neighborhoods.
  • Significant investments to increase the capacity of the existing Central West End light rail station. This station is the busiest in the entire MetroLink      system and has overcrowding problems, which this project will alleviate.  The station serves the BJC / Washington University Medical Campus, one of  the region’s largest employment centers with more than 21,000 jobs at all skill levels.
  • Development of the first segment of a bike trail to connect the new station to the regional Great Rivers Greenway trail network. When complete, this new trail will connect the new MetroLink station to Forest Park, BJC/Washington University medical center, Saint Louis University, and eventually the riverfront. It will also link cyclists from the region’s on-street bike network to the light rail station. (See Midtown Loop Report Excerpt– Exhibit A)

Together, these investments provide an integrated approach to improving access to transit options and job opportunities within the Central Corridor.

The project will directly catalyze a private transit oriented development project adjacent to the proposed Cortex station and new trail – 700,000 square feet of new research, laboratory and residential development to be developed by Wexford Science & Technology – and accelerate the build-out of Cortex, a growing hub of national and international innovation, entre­preneurship, and business development. This success in the Central Corridor will trigger additional economic development growth in the surrounding neighbor­hoods, city, and region.

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