Plans for a new MetroLink station within the Cortex technology district in the Central West End leaped ahead with the announcement Tuesday of a federal grant for the project.
Most of the $10.3 million grant from the Department of Transportation will go to complete the design and then build a light-rail station just east of Boyle Avenue. The site is adjacent to a public plaza, called Cortex Commons, that is under construction.
Officials hope to open the Cortex station by March 1, 2017. Also funded by the grant is a project to expand passenger capacity of the Central West End MetroLink station, the light-rail system’s busiest.
Karin Hagaman, director of project development for Cortex, said both stations might get new platform canopies of a “signature†design.
Also included in the grant is construction of a bikeway between Boyle and Sarah avenues. That project is part of a much larger endeavor to build a recreational trail within the Great Rivers Greenway regional network. The total cost of the projects is $12.9 million but Cortex and Great Rivers are committed to providing required funding matches for the projects ahead, Hagaman said.
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Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., whose office announced the grant, noted the competitive nature of such funding, known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, or TIGER grants. In a statement, McCaskill said that for this year’s round of funding, the department got 797 funding applications totaling $9.5 billion, 15 times the $600 million available.
Also announced Tuesday is a $10 million TIGER grant for the $56.3 million project to build a Highway 47 bridge over the Missouri River in Washington.
TIGER grants for the MetroLink projects go to the Metro transit system, which is directing the work. Plans call for the Cortex station’s passenger platform to be built between the eastbound and westbound tracks.
Earlier funding plans for the station got entangled in a series of state budget disputes between Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and the Republican-led Legislature. In June, Nixon withheld funding for numerous projects, including the Cortex MetroLink station.
Hagaman said the Cortex station will further development of the technology district. Cortex officials are planning additional science labs and residences within the district, which includes the Ikea store under construction at Forest Park and Vandeventer avenues.
