The Northside corridor extends from downtown St. Louis to I-270 in north St. Louis County. A 1991 Systems Analysis prioritized the Northside corridor as a Tier II priority for consideration of a light-rail extension.  As part of a 2000 MTIA, East-West Gateway identified transportation problems and potential solutions in the north-south areas from the City of St. Louis across St. Louis County to north of I-270 known as the Northside Corridor. Out of the multi-modal MTIA, came a number of improvements including the proposed extension of light-rail from downtown St. Louis to Florissant Valley Community College at I-270 in north St. Louis County.   The proposed light-rail line selected in the 2000 MTIA would conceptually originate from a counter-clockwise one-way loop of downtown streets, follow North Florissant and Natural Bridge Avenues between downtown and north St. Louis City, then follow Riverview to the Norfolk Southern railroad right-of-way across northwest St. Louis City to Northland, and along West Florissant Avenue to Florissant Valley Community College in north St. Louis County at I-270.

A potential connector between the Northside and Daniel Boone corridors was initially evaluated as part of a limited supplemental study to the 2000 MTIA.  Commonly referred to as the Northwest Connector, such an alignment would conceptually run between the Northside alignment near Union and Natural Bridge Avenues along the TRRA railroad right-of-way to the Daniel Boone alignment west of I-170.

In 2005, East-West Gateway received $2.9 million in Missouri transportation tax credits for the advanced planning of MetroLink within eligible distressed communities. The recent sale of tax credits will finance a $2.5 million study of the Northside and Southside transit corridors within the City of St. Louis between I-70 and I-55. The study will re-evaluate the transit Locally Preferred Alternativesidentified by the 2000 MTIA , and complete conceptual engineering within the project area.  If more funding is available, the study may expand beyond the project area currently limited to the City of St. Louis between I-70 and I-55.

The Northside-Southside Study is an 18-month study currently underway, with completion anticipated in 2007.

REPORTS/DOCUMENTATION:

• Northside Study Area Major Transportation Investment Analysis - Final Evaluation Report - prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc., July 2000
• summarizes the results of East-West Gateway's Major Transportation Investment Analysis (MTIA) for the Northside Study Area which provided local decision-makers and the public with the information necessary to determine the locally preferred transportation investment alternative for the Study Area.