For the past few months, the scene on the Delmar Loop has been nothing but traffic cones and ripped pavement. This construction represents 18 years of planning to local entrepreneur Joe Edwards. Edwards, who owns Blueberry Hill amongst his other ventures, has been pushing the construction of a streetcar line to spur growth east of Skinker Street.

“It just hit me that it makes perfect sense to do it in this area, built up around the streetcar system, and to bring a trolley back,” Edwards said. “A heritage trolley, a vintage fixed track trolley made all the sense in the world for a number of reasons.”

Edwards envisions the streetcar to be a way to move people with ease along Delmar Boulevard in an environmentally friendly way.

“Due to the fixed track nature, people will invest along the route, and transit oriented development is really important for other cities and it’s time for us to do the same thing here in St Louis,” Edwards said.
The streetcar line will start at the University City library and run east on Delmar Boulevard at DeBaliviere Avenue, the line will turn south and run into Forest Park, terminating at the Missouri History Museum.

“Eventually, I hope, it will expand through Forest Park where it will cut down on congestion and fumes from traffic,” Edwards said.

According to Edwards, much of the funding comes from a $25 million urban circulator grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The cost to ride is yet to be decided.

The construction has not always been well received by area residents. James Nacy, orchestra teacher, lives in St. Louis. His commute has been greatly affected by the road work.

“The major thing that’s going in right now are the tracks that will run from Delmar to the end of the history museum, the end of the park,” Nacy said. “I teach at SLU at night, and my normal way of getting from my house to SLU I can’t use anymore. So I’m not really happy with it.”

Al Estes, 74, has played his trumpet on the Loop for 14 years. Although he acknowledged the drop off in business during construction, he said all the locals could do was remain positive.

“Maybe people will be relieved, and when it first opens, you’re going to see a flourishing of businesses, and then it will taper off,” Estes said. “So when it tapers off, whether it means that they’re doing better business than they were before it started or not, that’s going to be a comparison. If it’s better business after the thing tapers off, then they’ve done the right thing.”