Image courtesy of CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation
On the Missouri side, at least, plans for the 2015 revamping of the Arch grounds seem to be progressing swimmingly. So said six key players who addressed about 300 people last night at CityArchRiver 2015's "Report to the Community," held at the Ferrara Theatre at America's Center.
Gullivar Shepard, associate principal at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, expanded on the firm's competition-winning ideas for revamping the park and making the experience of visiting more inviting, ergonomic, and safe. The standout change that will alter the landscape of downtown is a park that will span the stretch of I-70 running between the park and Gateway Mall. Instead of playing Frogger with interstate traffic, pedestrians who want to move from the landmark into the city will have a peaceful green expanse to traverse, strolling above the highway rather than trying to cross it.
The plan will also remove the Memorial Drive ramps and build a new Walnut Street Bridge and new ramps connecting the depressed area to Washington Avenue. The Jefferson National Expansion Museum garage will be taken out and replaced with a lawn where the city's cultural institutions can bring programming to the city's visitors. New bikeways will link the Arch grounds to downtown and the riverfront.
In order to head off the all-too-familiar flooding of the Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard that can make the riverfront at the foot of the Grand Staircase a soggy mess, the plan proposes lifting that roadway 2.5 feet. Shepard says this will alleviate most of the flooding. He also notes that the ever-present pond scuzz in the reflecting pools is easily fixed with better mowing methods and soil fixing, which will also mean less pollution flowing into the river.
According to Walter Metcalfe, of the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, the estimated cost of the project has actually gone down in the year since the winning design was selected, from $578 million to $553 million, mainly through refining and refiguring the plans—not through scaling back. Metcalfe, though optimistic, cautions that these numbers are estimates. Funding has been coming from private philanthropy and the Foundation, as well as a $20 million grant from the United States Department of Transportation.
The only discouraging news, it seems, relates to connecting the park and grounds to the Illinois side of the river. There's difficulty in mingling tourism with industry. "We respect this river as a working river," Metcalfe says.
As such, the gee-whiz plan for a gondola to cross the river is unlikely to be completed in time for the October 28, 2015 celebration. Metcalfe says it's not a top priority, but it's not off the table. He says that fixing the signage and intersections will be a great help to tourists and natives alike. "I've lived in St. Louis for 73 years," he says, "and I still don't know how to get to Laclede's Landing. That's going to be fixed."
