Wherever the next light rail line goes, it will do more than connect people to jobs and entertainment. It could help revitalize a long blighted swath of north St. Louis, or it could help catalyze pockets of dense development near St. Louis County employment hubs.

The debate is not just about transportation. Otherwise, the region could spend a fraction of the cost of light rail and buy more buses.

“Buses do not shape cities, rail does,” said Todd Swanstrom, a professor of public policy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “Buses accommodate existing patterns of development. Rail can shape patterns of development.”

Choosing a line

A decade has passed since the last MetroLink expansion, when the 8-mile line opened to connect Clayton to Shrewsbury. It was a messy process, going at least $132 million over budget and $276 million more than first estimated, with an additional $27 million in legal fees. And it opened 15 months late.

The first MetroLink line opened in 1993. The initial phase cost $464 million to build, with federal dollars covering about three-fourths of the cost.