ST. LOUIS—Plans to expand Metrolink to a Green Line are in flux.

Mayor Cara Spencer has asked Bi-State Development to give her administration more information to verify the project has what it takes to be competitive for obtaining federal transportation awards through the Federal Transit Administration that will be needed for the project to go forward, along with other local funding sources.

Voters passed a 0.5% sales tax in 2017 to help fund what was to be a much larger expansion of light rail--33 stops over 17 miles of track, but has been condensed over time to a 5.5 mile project that would run along Jefferson Avenue connecting Chippewa to the National Geospatial Agency site in north St. Louis. 

As a member of the Board of Aldermen, Spencer supported the broader expansion but had publicly questioned in her campaign for mayor if the reduced project was viable.

It was also her undertanding that another local source of revenue would be needed to fund ongoing maintenance of the line once it was finished. 

"When you’re looking at a five and a half mile expansion of light rail it becomes very very difficult to make that case to the FTA who’s going to be making those awards and we’re on a list of other very very competitive projects and the environment has gotten as we all know a lot more challenging," Spencer told reporters Tuesday, referring to the new Trump administration.

“Mayor Cara Spencer has asked us to hold on the MetroLink Green Line plans until we can get her more information on the viability and competitiveness of that project. We are grateful for her interest and support, and are looking forward to working with the Spencer administration,” Bi-State Development President and CEO Taulby Roach said in a statement. 

The review does not impact the collection of the existing sales tax. Spencer said Tuesday that the move isn't pausing work on the project, but on additional spending, which would not impact roughly $20 million Bi-State plans to use in the coming months.