St. Louis to Study Removal of Elevated Highway

Some potentially good news reported in the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday:

“…now the city is poised to fund a study of how knocking down the elevated section of 70 might work. Last week, the St. Louis Development Corp. issued a request for proposals for a $90,000 “downtown multi-modal access study.” It focuses on ways to improve connections between downtown and the riverfront.” (STLtoday.com) 

This is encouraging to see the city taking this step to study the issue. While I want to see easier connections to the Arch grounds at multiple points it’s the elevated highway between Laclede’s Landing and the Edward Jones Dome and the area billed as The Bottle District that’s a bigger block to development and connectedness.

ABOVE: Elevated highway in plain view of driving into St. Louis on the Eads Bridge

Way back in August 2005, in a post about the then-proposed Mississippi River Bridge, I ended with a somewhat radical idea — replace the highway through downtown with a boulevard:

So imagine the existing I-70 removed from the PSB to the new bridge (North of Laclede’s Landing & the proposed Bottle District). In its place a wide and grand boulevard lined with trees and shops. The adjacent street grid is reconnected at every block. Pedestrians can easily cross the boulevard not only at the Arch but anywhere along the distance between the bridges. Eads Bridge and the King Bridge both land cars onto the boulevard and into then dispersed into the street grid. The money it would take to cover I-70 for 3 blocks in front of the Arch can go much further not trying to cover an interstate highway. Joining the riverfront and Laclede’s Landing to the rest of downtown will naturally draw people down Washington Avenue to the riverfront. In one bold decision we can take back our connection to the river that shaped our city. The decision must be made now. The interchange for the new bridge is being designed now — we’ve only got one chance to get it right. Similarly, the lid project in front of the Arch could shift to a removed I-70 and connecting boulevard design before we are too far along the current path. (view full post)

Of course the bridge is under construction and the lid is proposed to cover part of the highway west of the Arch. Still there is a way to remove the elevated highway and have a boulevard go under the lid once finished. How many people want to walk directly from Busch Stadium to the south end of the Arch grounds? Just a fraction of the number that currently navigate under I-70 going from our convention center to Laclede’s Landing.

ABOVE: Looking east under I-70

ABOVE: Hardly quality urban space, not what visitors should experience when visiting St. Louis

I’ve spent quite a bit of my time around the elevated highway and it’s miserable space. A high volume roadway/boulevard can move the traffic but also be much more hospitable to pedestrians. For more information on the subject see the grassroots group City to River.

- Steve Patterson