Contractors broke ground Aug. 2 for a comprehensive project to improve Arch grounds in downtown St. Louis. The project aims to rework the current grounds and riverside park area for the monument’s 50th anniversary in 2015.
Tom Nagel, communications coordinator for the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, one of the project’s main partners, said the new layout plans were chosen from an international design competition held three years ago. The goal was to improve the Arch grounds and reconnect them to the city.
Nagel said the centerpiece of the project will be the Park Over the Highway portion, which will physically connect the Arch grounds to the Old Courthouse by extending it over I-70 between Chestnut and Market Streets.
“Since the Arch has been completed, there’s been this highway between the Arch and downtown,” Nagel said, “and reconnecting the Arch to the city is a good decision. It’s good for downtown, it’s good for the Arch, and it’s great for our region.”
A second ground breaking ceremony was held Nov. 14 to signify the beginning of the current Central River Front component of the project on Leonor K. Sullivan Drive, or Warf Street, along the river.
Great Rivers Greenway, a nonprofit organization working to build bike and walking trails across the St. Louis region, is in charge of the River front component, and will add trails as well as raise the road two and a half feet from Chouteau Street to Laclede’s Landing in order to keep it out of the flood plane for 60 more days a year.
“We’re adding separated bike lanes and it’s just going to be a much more pedestrian-friendly environment down there,” Nagel said.
Nagel said MoDOT and the Federal Highway Authority are also currently working on improvements West of Laclede’s Landing and under highway 70.
“We’re making a lot of kind of road adjustments just north of the Arch,” Nagel said, “and that’s to make way for kind of the centerpiece of the project, which is that Park Over the Highway.”
While there has been talk of delays to the project, Nagel said the majority of improvements will be complete in October 2015 in time for the anniversary.
One aspect that will likely not open in time, however, is Museum of Westward Expansion under the Arch, which will undergo major structural changes. Nagel said exhibits will probably not be ready until early 2016 due to the complexity of their construction.
Andrew Gates, MoDOT community relations coordinator, said MoDOT is one of many partners to come together on the project, including the CityArchRiver Foundation, Great Rivers Greenway and the federal highway authority.
Gates said MoDOT’s main role is accommodating the Park Over the Highway. Work on this portion began over the summer and includes adjusting of traffic flow on Memorial Drive around the new layout and creating a pedestrian bridge out of the current Pine Street Bridge.
“Our portion is dealing with the interstate that they are running between the City and Arch grounds,” Gates said. “We will be building a block-long park over highway I-70, so people can cross without needing a sidewalk.”
He said the improvements to the area meet the projects overall objectives and should improve safety and walkability.
“This is a great opportunity for St. Louis to reinvent a major historical element that has been part of the city for the past fifty years,” Gate said.
Gates said the improvements should improve the overall feel of downtown.
“This will help better connect the historic elements of downtown to the Arch,” Gates said. “It should create a great urban environment that people will look to and come back to.”
Overall, the improvements make up a 380 million dollar project. CityArchRiver Foundation has raised 115 million dollars in private donations so far, and Nagel said they have about 45 million more pledged.
Other funding for the project will come from federal and state grants, including a 20 million dollar tiger grant, and from a portion of the Prop P sales tax approved by voters in April. A portion of the tax goes to Great Rivers Greenway and will fund their portion of the project.
“What is really exciting about it is it’s mostly privately funded,” Nagel said. “I think that shows the commitment and the excitement of civic leaders and corporate leaders around town to this project and reconnecting the symbol of St. Louis back to its city.”
Alyssa Houser, sophomore, visited the Arch grounds last January with her youth group as part of a conference for the National Federation of Temple Youth and has visited a few other times. She said the Arch is a big landmark for the St. Louis and kind of signifies the city.
While Houser said the Arch itself was cool, she said the grounds were slightly run down.
“It was, I don’t really want to say gross, but it was kind of more beat down because it’s older,” Houser said.
Houser said the work to beautify the grounds is good because it will also help the city’s image.
“[St. Louis] is not the most glamorous city,” Houser said, “so it’s nice that they’re trying to not glamorize it, but beautify it.”
