The project to replace the old Tucker Blvd, filling in the long-abandoned passenger rail tunnel, is nearing completion. Motorists and pedestrians can now travel between Washington Ave and Cass Ave., approximately 3/4 of a mile (map). Tuesday night the boyfriend and I went for a walk up to Cass and back (I rolled, he walked).
I’d been up/down the new Tucker a few times before but this time I paid attention to the plantings located in bulb-outs at the ends of parking lanes, medians, tree lawn, etc. Some of the bulb-outs are designed as a rain garden, set up to catch rainwater from the road and sidewalk.
Irrigation in one of the rain gardens along North Tucker Blvd. I suppose irrigating a rain garden makes sense to keep the plantings looking good during dry spells, and while establishing the plantings.Very tall weeds have taken over some planting areas along Tucker.Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) is just one of many natives planted along Tucker. Other plants spotted include Yarrow, Russian Sage, and native prairie grasses.
I’m excited to see Tucker 100% complete with all the planting areas weeded. I’m also looking forward to seeing development occur along Tucker, especially at Cass.
Looking north from Cass & Tucker the approach to the new Mississippi River Bridge is nearly complete. The bridge opens in early 2014, click photo for more information.
Since this area lacks a form-based code, or anything else requiring new construction to recognize the existence of the new public sidewalks, I’m afraid it’ll end up being geared only to motorists, ignoring pedestrians completely. Maybe Paul McKee will do the.. right thing and develop the area with pedestrians and motorists in mind…
A few of you have expressed that you feel the weekly poll results here are predictable. Maybe you’re more perceptive than me because I couldn’t have predicted the outcome of the poll last week.
The green Forest Park Trolley loops around in the park and stops just north of the park at the Forest Park MetroLink station
Here are the final results:
Q: How should we address auto congestion in Forest Park? (Pick up to 3)
Run the existing Forest Park Trolley more frequently 44 [21.57%]
Build a trolley/streetcar circulator system within the park 35 [17.16%]
Change nothing, fine as is 32 [15.69%]
Whatever you do don’t allow overhead wires within the park 23 [11.27%]
Ban cars in the park at peak times only 17 [8.33%]
Charge a toll per car to drive into the park anytime 15 [7.35%]
Charge a toll per car to drive into the park at peak times only 11 [5.39%]
Ban cars in the park at all times 10 [4.9%]
Build an elevated monorail circulator in the park 9 [4.41%]
Build an electric bus circulator system within the park 7 [3.43%]
Unsure 1 [0.49%]
I’m not sure how I’d feel about tracks and/or overhead wires in Forest Park, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like a monorail. I included that option as a joke, but 9 voted for it.
Thankfully banning cars all the time got less than 5% of the vote. Comments on the original post showed a variety of viewpoints. I think it is fair to say no consensus was reached, the top three answers above are pretty dissimilar.
The Zoo and the Art Museum are the two biggest generators of autos, besides special events like the Ballon Glow. The Zoo will be moving most parking across I-64 and using a gondola to get people into an expanded zoo. The Art Museum opens a new wing this coming weekend with a below-grade parking garage:
The design organically links the East Building to the Cass Gilbert. A new grand staircase provides a seamless transition to the lower-level galleries, where a concourse leads to a new café, a gift shop, auditorium and the new 300-space parking garage. (West End Word)
Both of these efforts will help. I think we need a year or two of both changes and evaluate then. In the meantime I’d like to see the Forest Park Trolley become more BRT (bus rapid transit) like with actual stations, longer hours, notification of the next trolley bus, etc. Hybrid buses would be nice to reduce pollution.
Our library system is wonderful, I feel fortunate to live just two blocks from the magnificent Central Library, which recently had a $70 million dollar renovation. Returning a few items the other day when the library wasn’t open I realized the renovation included a new return box.
There I am on the sidewalk in my wheelchair looking for the slot to slide the items in.
East side of the after hours book return at the Central LibraryThe return slots are only accessible from Locust Street, not the sidewalk
I had previously assumed the ramp you see behind the library return box was for passenger loading/unloading, but perhaps it is so pedestrians could easily get into the street to return books & videos.
Most other libraries in St. Louis have easily accessed return boxes, not requiring competing with moving traffic. Here are a few examples:
Central Express 4 blocks east of CentralBaden, far north cityKingshighway at SouthwestBuder, south Hampton
Does someone at the St. Louis Public Library think everyone downtown drives everywhere? Returning books a few blocks away means getting in the car? Another day I asked a librarian at the circulation desk who confirmed they only have the one return box.
It appears the new book return is accessed from below so librarians don’t need to go out with a cart to retrieve items, a wise choice given the volume at Central. Not providing a way for pedestrians to return items without having to enter the street is yet another example how everyone involved either 1) drives and didn’t consider the pedestrian viewpoint or 2) deliberately made a decision to make returns a challenge for pedestrians.
As I’ve done for the last month, this is another post on potential development sites along the proposed initial route of the St. Louis Streetcar. The sections already reviewed are as follows:
This post continues west to the end of the first phase of the route, starting at Lindell & Vandeventer to Lindell & Taylor, south on Taylor to Children’s place at the BJC hospital complex and next to the Central West End MetoBus Transit Center & MetroLink station (map).
Longtime readers know I’ve advocated a modern streetcar line for years connecting Downtown, Midtown/Grand Center, Central West End, and the Loop. My preferred route was to go north on Vandeventer then west on Delmar. I’d still like to see a streetcar on Delmar. Other options to go north from the current proposed route are at Sarah and/or Taylor. I’d like to see a decision made about future expansion so the track can be added onto without disrupting the Lindell route.
Anyway, here’s a look going west from Vandeventer:
This Rally’s was built in 1993 on nearly a third of an acre site with streets on three sides (Lindell, Vandeventer, & McPherson. The land & building are owned by a firm in San Diego, CA. Given the short life expectancy of such a structure I’d expect a more urban building on this site in the first 5 years of the streetcar line.Next door the American Automobile Association of Missouri is renovating their iconic former headquarters building. CVS is building a drugstore on the west end of the site.The apartments at 3949 Lindell are being rebuilt after a 2012 fire, this is an August 2008 photo. More development of this scale will become the norm along the route, it’ll be a 10-20 year process, not overnight.A number of buildings occupy smaller lots on the south side of Lindell, these do a poor job of connecting with the sidewalkThis McDonald’s was built in 2008 on a site that is nearly an acre. McDonald’s owns the site so I wouldn’t expect to see a change for 20-30 years unless the land value increases dramatically and drive-thru sales collapseThis building, The Continental, was built in 1965. City records indicate it has 49 apartments. Density is good but it isn’t welcoming. New facade? Raze & replace?The Arby’s on Lindell, built in 2007, is also on nearly an acre siteThis American Red Cross building has good mass & density, but a poor relationship with the public sidewalk, typical for 1966.The former mansion at 4054 Lindell was built in 1896. It appears to be in decent condition so perhaps it’ll get a new owner or be razed for something more urban.The apartment building at 4066 Lindell, built in 1927, has 68 apartments. As is it provides affordable units, but renovation to go upmarket is possible, displacing low-income tenants in the process.The part of Lindell Marketplace on the east side of Sarah sits on 4.8 acres. The will get razed & redeveloped into a dense mixed-use site before the larger site to the west due to fewer tenants to inconvenience.With three outlots included, Lindell Marketplace on the west side of Sarah has 9.3 acres. It is bounded on all sides by public streets, built in 1986. Multiple ownership, anchor tenant Schnucks, and many small tenants complicate redevelopment.This Jack-In-The-Box at 4111 Lindell, built in 2011, occupies one of the three outlets.CVS wanted to raze the former Public Housing Authority building at 4100 Lindell but there was opposition. Hopefully it’ll get a nice renovation that respects the original 1957 design. I picture a ground floor restaurant with a lush patio out front, offices or apartments 0n upper floors.The 1948 building next door is more likely to get replaced than renovated.4158 Lindell is from 1948 but I see no reason why a developer shouldn’t raze it and build a mixed-use building. The Leonardo Apartments to the west is on a smaller lot and contains 34 apartments.The Walgreens at 4200 Lindell was built in 2002 on a massive 1.8 acre site. I see this as being a perfect location for Walgreens’ new upscale urban flagship format, complete with a fresh sushi bar, in a multi-story mixed-use building. Click photo for article about this new format.I’d like to see the American Cancer Society lease part of their ground floor to activate the NW corner of Lindell & Whittier StThis one-story branch bank was built in 1995 when SLU bought & razed the branch at Lindell & Grand. The site is 0.75 acres.In 2009 the San Luis Hotel was razed for a parking lot. Hopefully we’ll eventually see a new building on this siteThe Boatman’s Bank on Lindell in 1990-91, now a Bank of America, is very disconnected to Lindell.The NE corner of Lindell & Euclid was built in 1968. A high-rise was planned for this site when the economy crashed.The SW corner of Lindell & Euclid has been a parking lot for 20+ yearsThe parking lots on the east side of Kingshighway should also be considered for developmentThe west end of phase 1 would be next to the open air CWE MetroBus Transit CenterThis street would be the initial west end point, nearly zero development potential unless you’re willing to raze a garage built in 1994
There’s much more development potential here than I originally thought, but with mixed-use projects like 3949 Lindell and the planned City Walk (with a Whole Foods) it could be argued the streetcar is needed in other areas to get development rolling.
Future installments in this series will look at:
Development potential in the downtown central business district
Some challenge/changes the streetcar will create
And a poll(s) on routes for future expansion
Still, I’m excited by the transit the streetcar could provide as well as the level of development it could spur.
Last month I posted how the St. Louis Hills Medical Center violates the ADA. In short, the building’s original design predated the ADA by a few decades and the 2008 renovations didn’t fix the problem. Here are a few photos from that post:
The original 1950s entrance wasn’t accessible to all.The route to a new entrance contains a flight of stairs, also not accessible to all.
Since that post I met with a representative of the building owner as well as Eddie Roth, Director of Operations in the mayor’s office.
A drawing on the building website shows what should’ve been built, the private sidewalk from the space next door was supposed to be continue in front of the original entry, eliminating the steps.Here’s the original entry again with the new sidewalk next door circled in red, the walk to the original entry is also newish concrete.Here’s the view next door looking toward the old entrance.
During the construction work a few years ago someone made a decision to not follow the architect’s design, resulting in lack of ADA-compliance.
The owner’s representative indicated the building remains vacant, and they aren’t interested in making changes. If only they’d followed the architect’s plans there would be no problems gaining access into the building from the public sidewalk.
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