最新杏吧原创

鈥淲hen we did MetroLink everybody was coming from these other cities to come and see how we did it,鈥� recalls Les Sterman. He was executive director of the at the time, which played a major role in getting the system built. 鈥淎nd then somehow we lost our way, and we didn鈥檛 learn our lessons that we had been teaching everybody else. It鈥檚 been downhill ever since.鈥�

Indeed, since both systems debuted in 1994, Denver鈥檚 transit has blossomed, with multiple lines now being built into suburbs in various counties. It helps that those counties all pay into a regional transportation district that spreads the funding around the entire metro area. In 最新杏吧原创, transit development has been mostly stagnant, with the overpriced county extension wasting much good will; and plans for the north-south MetroLink extension gathering dust on a shelf. Multiple generations of 最新杏吧原创 leaders have talked about expanding the transit system every few years, but they mostly spend money on more studies.

This week marks a potential new chapter in the transit discussion in 最新杏吧原创. With President Joe Biden signing his signature bipartisan infrastructure bill, hundreds of millions of dollars are headed to 最新杏吧原创 and the state of Missouri, many of them earmarked for transit. Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, who was at Biden鈥檚 signing at the White House, says it鈥檚 time to dust off plans for the MetroLink expansion.

鈥淭his is the time for us to continue forward on that project,鈥� Jones told reporters after Biden signed the bill. 最新杏吧原创 County Executive Sam Page agrees. Having the two most important regional leaders on board with transit development, at a time when both the city and the county are sitting on unused transit funds, and hundreds of millions of federal dollars are on the way moves transit development from theoretical to possible.

That鈥檚 why I called Sterman this week. More than anybody, he knows what it will take to get an expansion of the 最新杏吧原创 transit system from theoretical to rails in the ground.

鈥淭here鈥檚 obviously some reason for optimism,鈥� Sterman says. 鈥淏ut it takes a very high level of regional commitment and cooperation.鈥�

That means not just Jones and Page being in sync, but the Board of Aldermen and the County Council, two bodies that often find themselves at odds with the elected leaders of the city and county, often more for political reasons than public policy differences. That means getting the entire congressional delegation on the same page, as guiding those federal dollars to 最新杏吧原创 (and Kansas City, which also has transit needs), takes serious cooperation. And it also means getting the state of Missouri on board as a partner. That, Sterman says, might be the heaviest lift.

For as long as 最新杏吧原创 and Kansas City have had transit, the systems have received less state funding than virtually every other similar transit development in the country. A few years back, Sterman wrote a white paper that discussed how much more affordable transit would be in Missouri鈥檚 biggest cities if the state would fund at a level near that of other states.

Now, with so many federal infrastructure dollars flowing into state coffers as well as local ones, there is a real opportunity to get past the old Missouri myth that somehow money spent in the state鈥檚 cities robs rural areas of their own funding.

鈥淢issouri鈥檚 actually an urban state but you would never know it based on the state鈥檚 policies,鈥� Sterman says. 鈥淪eventy percent of the state鈥檚 population lives in urban areas.鈥�

Similarly, about 40% of the state鈥檚 economic activity is generated in 最新杏吧原创, where employers need workers, and those workers, particularly Black ones who live in north and south 最新杏吧原创, need transit to get them to jobs. That鈥檚 why the made expanding transit in 最新杏吧原创 a top priority.

Will millions of federal dollars plus the support of city and county leaders finally equal serious movement toward construction of an expanded transit system in 最新杏吧原创?

鈥淚 hope there鈥檚 opportunities for expanded transit,鈥� Sterman says. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e got a lot of history to overcome. There鈥檚 absolutely a way to make it happen. Somebody needs to take charge and really will this thing across the finish line.鈥�