We weigh the $150 million St. Louis MetroLink extension to MidAmerica Airport against projected ridership and explain how Illinois state funding, decades of pre-planning, and significant optimism have made this project a reality.
• cost, scope and context of the MidAmerica Airport extension
• ridership at Lambert versus MidAmerica and what it implies
• lack of anchors near the new terminus and first-mile gaps
• Illinois’s Rebuild Illinois funding and shovel-ready advantage
• development logic behind building into empty fields
• the Green Line corridor, voter backing, and federal hurdles
• pivot from light rail to dedicated-lane BRT and timelines
• risks of BRT creep and ways to protect speed and reliability
• how to engage with local planning and share feedback
If you are in the St. Louis area or in Illinois and you want to give your thoughts about these two projects, the BRT line and the Mid-America Airport extension of the Red Line out of St. Louis, please send us an email. If you want to support the show, the best way to do so is via our Patreon. You can also just subscribe, like the episode, all that good stuff.
