St. Louis’ Riverfront to get yet another makeover

The St. Louis Riverfront as seen two years ago from the re-opening of the Eads Bridge. Beautiful stainless steel arch and lush grounds below. But where are the people?

Yesterday I attended an open house and presentation by the Riverfront Design Team (aka RDT for the remainder of this post) as organized by the Great Rivers Greenway District. For more information on the team and the plan click here for a PDF document.

Their primary focus is the area immediately in front of the Arch and grounds with the areas to the North and South being secondary. I think this is backwards because you’ve got a better chance of drawing people from the city through the adjacent areas rather than the Arch. St. Louis Director of Planning Rollin Stanley agreed with the team and said, “Trust me.” Rollin is one of the few that work for the city that I do tend to trust so I’ll keep an open mind. The total area is about a mile and a half long and about 200ft wide (depending upon the height of the Mississippi river).

OK, back to the riverfront and the lack of people two years ago…

Some people were actually biking across the bridge and stopping to take in a view that only the construction workers had ben able to enjoy. Two years ago it was exciting to see the riverfront from the bridge. Last year it was fun to see the B-52s perform at Riversplash. Otherwise, I can’t say that I’ve really been to the riverfront much.

It was suggested by the RDT about using the Eads Bridge as a venue space for big events. The problem is a good pedestrian connection to the top from the riverfront. I’m not to keen on any sort of stair tacked onto the side of this spectacular bridge. I also don’t know that it makes any sense. It is hot and windy on the bridge. Besides, the point is to get people to the water and hopefully onto some lively streets.

Note to RDT: Leave the bridge as a connector between East and West. No special events.

For me the biggest priority is not to make some pretty pattern on the ground as seen from the Arch. The best thing we can do is reconnect our downtown with the river. We have two major obstacles keeping the city and river apart. One is the Arch and grounds itself. The other is highway I-70. There has been some talk of a “lid” to better cover the “depressed” section between the Arch and Old Courthouse. I agree, let’s cover that puppy.

But perhaps more important than a lid over the highway in front of the Arch is to deal with the highway as it goes overhead from Washington Avenue North to just past Biddle. Here it would be highly challenging to bury the highway because the MetroLink line runs under Washington Avenue. Either the highway or the light rail would have to go deep. This is certainly much easier than Boston’s Big Dig project. I’d actually like to see us remove the interstate at this point and do a boulevard like San Francisco’s Embarcadero that was created after a raised highway collapsed in the 1989 earthquake.

The view at right is from July 2003 looking East from Washington Avenue at the Eads bridge and underneath I-70. It is not welcoming by foot, bike or frankly even by car.

Looking back West from the Eads bridge you can’t really see Washington Avenue because of I-70. This picture was taken yesterday when I was biking around the riverfront after the meeting. The highway is a big problem. The one good thing it does is obscure the view of the ugly hotel just beyond it.

Note to RDT: Bury or eliminate I-70 because it creates to much division.

Washington Avenue is actually one of the better connected streets. As you go North from there you get the strangest mess of roads leading to Laclede’s Landing, the King Bridge onto Northbound I-70 and up Broadway. The traffic engineers may have gotten the cars moving along well but it is really a mess by foot and bike. The football dome (who pays for the name this week?) is just beyond the highway but a very short A to B distance is not something I’d attempt.

The brick sidewalks and the oldish looking sign posts are meant to give the impression the area is pedestrian friendly, without actually being pedestrian friendly.

As we continue North we start to get into the ridiculous. This photo is taken at the corner of Carr & N 2nd, looking East on Carr toward the river. Could this street be any wider? It is four generous traffic lanes plus a center turn lane. No parking is allowed on the street.

Note to RDT: Look closely at street widths and narrow as many as you can. Bring back on-street parking to all streets as it will greatly reduce the need for surface parking lots, will give the impression something is going on and it will separate pedestrians from traffic.

As if this wasn’t bad enough…

I thought I was hallucinating when I saw these benches on Carr Street. This three block long section of Carr with four traffic lanes and a center lane has roughly 10 such benches. I can’t for the life of me get who is supposed to use these. Maybe it was thought if we put benches along this hideous street someone will actually start to use it for more than a pass through? I saw evidence of one bench that was removed (either on purpose or by thieves).

The stupidity I see on the streets simply amazes me sometimes…

Returning to Eads bridge we can see how Washington Avenue follows the terrain down to the riverfront. Like Carr Street I feel like the road is too wide and in this case pedestrians are not given enough room. At crosswalks pedestrians are not permitted to cross at all corners.

Note to RDT: Let pedestrians walk on either side of the roadway and let us cross from any corner.

Going further onto the bridge and looking straight back we can see one of the major problems with the riverfont, a massive retaining wall. It is tall and long. Walking on the sidewalk, which lacks street trees, is hardly pleasant. Recessing a few small storefronts into the wall might be a start. Something, anything, to break it up a bit.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the RDT is the height of the river. It can fluctuate in feet in a given day. When flooding it can cover Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd. Anything on the riverfront must be able to withstand annual flooding. Quite the design challenge.

As a side note, how many of you know who Lenore K. Sullivan was? I didn’t know, I had to look it up. For the answer click here. I hope the road will continue to be named after her, I just hate it when things are named for someone and then later renamed something else.

I’d really hate to see the riverfront take on sponsorships. Can you imagine, “Welcome to the Enterprise Leasing Riverfront.”

The same wall seen directly from the Eads bridge. The wall overpowers the sidewalk below. This picture was taken late yesterday as Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd was closed and workers were setting up tents for this weekend’s Fair St. Louis. From this perspective you can see the area is all pavement and not much else.

The RDT made it clear the Arch grounds are off limits. I’m sure the feds have made that quite clear to them. This is really a shame because while the grounds are stunningly modern they are also painfully boring. Once you’ve been there I see no reason to go back. It is static and lifeless. I saw the grounds in 1990 and aside from the trees being bigger not much has changed.

Well, the view across the river has changed but that isn’t exactly a good thing…

I love seeing the barges going up and down the river. I like the agricultural mill in the background as well. I think I’ve seen the huge fountain once. But it is hard to miss the Casino Queen riverboat. I say riverboat but I don’t think it actually goes anywhere. They no longer have to move. Just float. If I just sit on my bike does that make me a bicyclist? I don’t think so.

The Casino Queen boat, structure and hotel are all garish. Now, I don’t mind bright lights but I like to have some actual good design along with the lights. The non-floating buildings at the Casino Queen are just really cheap looking. The parking lot is huge and equally ugly. What a dreadful use of land and resources.

Illinois has the Metro-East Park and Recreation District to set up greenways on their side of the river. They are planning a park opposite the Arch.

“The dedication of the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, June 18, marked a significant milestone in the revitalization of the East St. Louis Riverfront.

The Gateway Center officially transferred title to the Gateway Geyser and the 34.1 acres of ground leading from the soaring fountain west to the Mississippi River to the Metro East Park and Recreation District.”

Sadly, the Casino Queen will remain an eyesore on the East bank of the Mississippi river. For more information on the Metro-East Park and Recreation District click here.

Looking at the St. Louis Riverfront to the North the picture is a bit better. To the left we have the mostly tourist spot known as Laclede’s Landing. We’ve actually got some trees as well.

Back in December I posted a very strongly worded take on Laclede’s Landing. If you don’t mind some four letter words it is worth a look. Here is a teaser:

The moving of the President Casino on the Admiral to just North of Laclede’s Landing a few years back has only made the area worse. The garish casino drop-off area and entrance turns the riverfront into a tacky roadside attraction. It sickens me to see it. I hope the casino does go bankrupt (again?) so we can tear all that sh*t off the bank of the river

I’m writing in a much more PC tone these days. Sometimes I really want to go back to my earlier style. When reading my current posts just insert “f-ing” before parking garage, casino, etc as that is often what I am thinking and editing out as I type. I can’t even begin to tell you the words I’d use to describe a certain someone with the initials SS… But I’m getting off track.

And here we have the President Casino that I referred to above from my December 23rd post on the Landing. Lovely huh? The old Admiral boat is so beautiful to see except that from the riverfront you can no longer see it due to all this crap. Around 7pm last night cars were backed up to get into the parking garage so people could go gambling, drinking and smoking. Here is my question for the gaming operators — must the outside be so garish looking? Would these obsessed gamblers not come to a more tasteful location (at least on the exterior)?

I personally avoid this part of the riverfront just to save me from having to look at this.

Note to RDT: If you want people to enjoy the riverfront get rid of the gaming. I could care less if people gamble, I just want them to do it elsewhere or at least be more tasteful about it.

And we are back at the point about connection. You probably can’t see the banners on the lamp posts but they say, “Welcome to the Landing.”

Massive surface parking lot, obstructionist highway and oversized football dome. And officials wonder why it is not more popular. Welcome…

At yesterday’s meeting the RDT had “Public Forum I Comment Form” which I filled out before the presentation. During the presentation I thought of a number of other things I wanted to share with the RDT. Instead of simply emailing them the list I’ll just spell it out here and email them a link.

First, the goals for the riverfront were set by the team. The public input is coming after goals are already determined. This is backwards. You want the public to determine what the goals should be. It is, after all, our space and our money being spent. From what I heard a strong goal is to get Arch visitors to the riverfront. As such, the view of the riverfront as seen form the Arch will be a priority. Why not just do a pattern in the paving that says, “Please come to the riverfront”?

One of the “design issues” on the feedback form to be rated from very unimportant to very important was, “Integrating pedsetrians, cyclists and vehicles in a compatible, non-congested manner.” That makes a lot of assumptions. One that pedestrians, cyclists and autos should all be there. Even if I do think all three should be present does that mean it should be non-congested. Most of the places I like to visit are congested to a degree. It is not that I like congestion but I like the dense urban street life that often leads to congestion. Manchester Road out in the ‘burbs is congested but it is an atrocious place.

The area the RDT is looking at is way too small. I understand they have to take a hands off approach to the Arch grounds but they need to look at more of the adjacent areas. This includes Laclede’s Landing to the North and Chouteau’s Landing (mostly industrial) to the North. Both areas so suffer from massive flood walls.

The speaker from RDT said the city has seen lots of development as a result of the investment in the Washington Avenue Streetscape. Well, it is not like we are going to see loft dwellers on either side of Lenore K. Sullivan after a redo of the riverfront. Comparing the investment in the Washington Avenue streetscape and a new riverfront streetscape just doesn’t work. The riverfront lacks buildings. You know, all those that were torn down in the 1940s as part of a massive urban “renewal” effort.

The RDT needs to include provisions for bike parking. This is for normal everyday activity as well as during big functions. The St. Louis Regional Bike Federation (www.stlbikefed.org) and Trailnet are teaming up Sunday to provide bike parking. Apparently the demand is quite high (which is good) and since we have no other choices for parking we must set up a makeshift parking area (bad). I’ve volunteered to help out so look me up on Sunday — look for us under I-70 at Washington/Eads! Also, early Sunday morning is a riverfront bike ride, click here for the PDF flyer.

So what are your thoughts on the riverfront? Share them below so they RDT can read your ideas as well.

– Steve

[edited at 5pm for various spelling and grammatical offenses. Still not perfect but much closer than it was… – SLP]