Metrolink is good for
growth
Posted on
Wed, Nov. 17, 2004
====================================================
A
decade ago, St. Clair County leaders made the tough decision to route MetroLink
through Belleville, rather than along busy Interstate 64 in Fairview Heights
and O'Fallon. They wanted to create not only a new mode of transportation, but
a new corridor for economic development.
MetroLink is
proving them successful on both counts.
Since the
beginning, MetroLink has been hugely popular with metro-east residents, who use
it for work and pleasure. It wasn't long after it opened that the areas around
MetroLink began building up. The Emerson Park stop in East St. Louis has a
beautiful townhouse development next to it. The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in
East St. Louis was built at another stop.
Now the area
around the Memorial Hospital stop in Belleville is building up, with three new
subdivisions under construction. One real estate executive said property values
in that area have at least doubled in the past eight years. MetroLink isn't the
only reason, but it's a significant part of it.
Not all the stations in St. Clair County have developed as community leaders expected. But it's important that the leaders not settle for park-and-ride lots. The taxpayers will benefit if MetroLink is developed to its full potential. And the convenience and cost savings of housing near a light-rail line will help many people who can't or don't drive.