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MetroLink serves as the St. Louis region's light-rail transit system.  Since the 1970s, the region's elected officials have sought a means of developing a more efficient and attractive public transit system to provide accessibility for the citizens of the region. As the initial product of regional planning, the original line opened in 1993, connecting downtown St. Louis to Lambert International Airport and East St. Louis, Illinois. However, this first line was never envisioned as an end product, but rather, the beginning of a new regional transit system.

The concept of a regional rail transit system has actually been in planning in the St. Louis region for many years. A 1989 Systems Analysis, revised in 1991, prioritized the consideration of possible expansion corridors beyond the original line.  Since 1991, the corridor-specific priorities for evaluating MetroLink expansion in the St. Louis region have remained:

The map below shows the prioritized corridors for planning, as adopted in the 1991 Systems Analysis.  Click on it to view an enlarged version of the map.

Since the Systems Analysis (1991) and the opening of the original line (1993), two additional MetroLink corridors have moved through construction—St. Clair County (2001) and Cross County (2006). Despite the lack of construction on the other MetroLink corridors, planning efforts have progressed for multiple corridors.  The table below summarizes the current status of planning and implementation activities at which each MetroLink corridor presently stands.

TABLE: MetroLink Corridors – Status of Planning and Implementation

Many of the acronyms shared in the table, like MTIA, AA/DEIS, or PE, represent terms better defined, along with other terms, in our glossary called Talking the Talk.

East-West Gateway's Transportation Corridor Improvement Group  (TCIG) manages transportation studies, including MetroLink system planning. The TCIG  follows a strategic process of assessing needs, evaluating potential strategies, and designing and analyzing alternatives.  The process of how a project evolves from systems analysis to refinement of alternatives to actual implementation is shared in greater detail on our Corridor Planning web page.

The regional map below shows all MetroLink corridors considered in planning studies, as well as those lines in operation or under construction.  Shaded areas represent corridors that have not yet been studied to the level of an MTIA or Alternatives Analysis or, in the case of St. Charles, have been deferred due to lack of local support. Dashed lines represent other conceptual alignments. In the case of Metro South, two final alternatives resulting from the its recent AA/DEIS are shown.  Metro South, Northside, Southside and Madison/Northeast are those corridors having undergone the most recent planning.  For more information on each segment, click any section of the interactive map below.

Enlarge Map