East St. Louis Action Research Project
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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How much is a light rail system worth to East St. Louis?

Benefits:

Many of the benefits of a light rail system in East St. Louis are hard to define in exact dollar amounts, though they may have an economic impact, such as decreasing gasoline expeditures. Some of these benefits are:

1. The multiplying effect of dollars entering the community through associated local businesses, such as coffee houses, donut shops, dry cleaners, and news stands.
2. The ability for people without cars to be employeed in areas outside of walking distance.
3. Increased savings on gas and parking costs of those who would otherwise drive to work in the greater metropolitan St. Louis area.
4. Increased environmental benefits of fewer cars on the road, such as reduced vehile miles traveled, less release of harmful air pollutants, and decreased noise pollution.
5. A new use for centralized waste/bio-mass -- turning it into electricity.
6. Enhanced social benefits of waiting for and riding the train with your neighbors.
7. The conversion of previously abandoned land uses and parcels in the community now put to good use.

In this document, many areas of the proposed light rail system will be evaluated. First, an economic evaluation of the proposed rail line will be conducted. Next, a visual quality evaluation and a cultural resources inventory will be performed. Finally, a ecological resources evaluation is performed.

Map of the Proposed Rail Line

This document was created using Netscape Navigator Gold.

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Document author(s) : Kevin Merrifield, Amy Cauldwell, Brett Harsen, and Martha Pedersen
HTML by : Kevin Merrifield, Amy Caldwell, Brett Harsen, and Martha Pedersen
Last modified: December 9, 1996

East St. Louis Action Research Project