By KERRY SMITH

Bi-State Development, in partnership with the City of St. Louis, is preparing to open a Request for Proposals for design consultants interested in performing one portion of the work toward an expanded MetroLink route through St. Louis Midtown.

At the Dec. 18 virtual meeting hosted by Bi-State, President and CEO Taulby Roach says the work to design, engineer and build the light rail track extension got its start from a 2018 study but gained traction after the pandemic when commuting travel plans changed. Midtown St. Louis, he added, has been seeing an increase of travel via Jeferson Avenue and other major thoroughfares.

“Jefferson Avenue provides the connection point for North St. Louis’ expansion,” Roach said. “What we need is a cutting-edge design and project team that together can envision, ‘What is the city of the future?’”

The proposed rail extension would run along Jefferson Avenue from Chippewa to Grand, and then proceed westward onto Natural Bridge.

Jefferson Avenue offers the project a generous boulevard, says Roach, paired with tangible support from the City of St. Louis to push the 5.6-mile extension project forward. So far, 15 percent of the design has been completed, he says. Dollars from a 2016 taxpayer funded initiative plus future monies from the Federal Transit Administration are anticipated to fund the work to advance the design from 15 percent to 30 percent complete.

The project’s consultant Disadvantaged Business Enterprise goal is 19 percent. Project partners and consultants to date include HNTB, KAI and KWAME Building Group.

Subject to obtaining the necessary funding, Bi-State anticipates that environmental work will be completed in early 2025, final design finished by late 2026 and construction to take place in 2027-2030.

Bi-State plans to issue the RFP on Dec. 21. Design consultant applicants must submit via the agency’s iSupplier platform. For more information, see http://www.bistatedev.org/vendor-resources/.