Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Today’s poll topic comes as a result of a recent discussion with a friend on Facebook over South Grand’s streetscape project. I’ve heard differing views from others as well, so it seemed like a great poll topic.
The exact question is: “Now that it has been in place a few years, what is your opinion of the South Grand ‘Great Streets’ road diet:”
The poll, open until 8pm, is at the top of the right sidebar. The answers are provided in random order.
The Washington Avenue streetscape, completed about 15 years ago, was designed to visually play tribute to the area’s history as a garment district:
Through the ’30s and ’40s, St. Louis had one of the largest needle-trade centers in the country—second, many said, only to New York—and was the center of manufacture for junior-size dresses. (St. Louis Magazine)
So Washonhgton Ave was given a zipper motif. But in the last 15 years the very expensive streetscape’s design elements haven’t always been respected. Most recently the street trees.
The picture on the left shows how the metal tree grate aligns with stones in the street, the pic on the right was take just to the West. The same visual has been totally obliterated because the pavers were opened up to uncover more of the tree well.
The street trees never did well because the costly streetscape was designed with style over function — too small of a surface area to collect rainwater. After removing the dead/dying trees extra grates were used to cover the holes where the original trees were planted, which kept the design motif intact.
If the the new trees survive perhaps it’s worth sacrificing the design, still visually jarring after all these years.
The Crown Food Mart at 1515 N. 13th opened in 2009, with street trees planted on all sides. Few have survived.
Nearly every tree around the property looks like this, completely dead.
Some will say the city is a harsh environment for street trees, the road salt and chemicals used to clear snow & ice from streets is too much for new trees to handle. Perhaps, but when half the root ball is above the level of the adjacent sidewalk the tree is going to dry out and die. If it happens to survive it will eventually bust the sidewalk as shallow roots seek water.
These trees never had a chance for survival.
How should it be planted? Deeper!
A properly planted tree will have the root ball up to 4″ below the level of the sidewalk. Source: Arlington VA, click to view larger version.
I don’t know if a contractor for the new building or the city planted these trees, whomever it was did a poor job.
Last week workers replaced the dead street tree in front of my building, it was planted in 2008. Other trees in front of the building are older, but this spot is where dogs go as soon as their owners take them outside. I’m not sure if that’s the cause of the short lifespan of the last tree or one of numerous reasons it didn’t survive.
ABOVE: Newly planted street tree in front of my building.
Hopefully this tree will last longer. I saw the workers digging out the old tree but I didn’t stick around to see how it had been planted or the conditions. I did snap a picture of a hole for a street tree around the corner just before the tree was planted.
ABOVE: Just before a street tree was planted on 16th next to the Leather Trades Lofts
Yes, the earth surrounding the hole is filled with bricks. How do we expect trees to survive when the root system has to compete with bricks and other debris?
A new street tree was recently planted near the entrance to my building.
ABOVE: base of newly planted tree outside my building
This replaced the new tree planted in 2008 that died in 2009. Hopefully this tree will survive although with the level of the dirt well above the sidewalk level I’m not optimistic.
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