Trail group wants to put ring around area
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 26, 2009
Great Rivers Greenway has completed more than 10,000 feet of walking bridges and boardwalks in the past decade, connecting wide swatches of green space, parks and trails from St. Charles County to the Metro East area.
Greenway officials see it as a milestone in the steady progress toward building the largest linear park system in the country.
"We're building bridges, literally and figuratively," said David Fisher, executive director of Great Rivers Greenway.
A FEW BRIDGE AND BOARDWALK STANDOUTS
The $12.5 million in bridges and boardwalks connect segments of the River Ring, a planned 640-mile network of linear parks around the region.
The bridges and boardwalks are essential to the plan because they connect geographical areas that are separated by natural and man-made barriers, Fisher said.
Boardwalks create routes through marshes and wetlands such as the three-quarter mile walk from the Missouri Research Park to the Katy Trail in St. Charles County. Or they rise above places unfriendly to walkers and bikers, such as railroad tracks or muddy flood plains.
The bridges span creeks, ditches and rivers.
For example, the Greenway's crown jewel, the $7 million McKinley Bikeway and Trestle completed last year, does all of those jobs. The trestle rises above a rail yard in St. Louis, crosses the Mississippi River separated from the bridge's traffic lanes, descends over a flood plain in Illinois, then lands where it can connect with a network of greenways and trails put together by the Metro East Park and Recreation District.
Greenway officials noted that the McKinley Bridge addition created a recreational opportunity. Bicyclists can cross the McKinley Bridge, ride north on the Confluence Greenway trails adjacent to Illinois Route 3, cross back into Missouri on the Chain of Rocks Bridge, another Greenway project, and return on the St. Louis Riverfront Trail.
The 10,000-foot milestone came last month with the finishing touches on a mural on a 270-foot bicycling and walking bridge that carries Grant's Trail over Interstate 44.
The mural is visible heading east just past the Big Bend Boulevard overpass.
Ann Mack, executive director of Trailnet, said the bridges are "turning what could be seen as obstacles into great opportunities for connection.
"We specifically design our outings to use trails, bridges and connections that GRG has made."
TAX APPROVAL SPURRED PROJECT
Voters in Missouri and Illinois created the Metropolitan Parks and Recreation District when they approved the Clean Water, Safe Parks and Community Trails Initiative in November 2000. One of the aims was to beautify the region to spur economic development.
The package included a tenth-of-a-cent sales tax to fund projects in the city of St. Louis and the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, St. Clair and Madison.
The tax consistently has generated 90 percent of the agency's annual budget — about $10 million from Missouri and $2 million to $3 million from Illinois. The remainder of the budget comes from grants and local contributions.
The Metropolitan Parks and Recreation District evolved into the Great Rivers Greenway District, which now prefers the names Great Rivers Greenway, or GRG.
Fisher said it remains the only multi-jurisdictional park system in the country outside of the National Park System, although some regions around the country are beginning to copy the concept.
"The River Ring is a one-of-a-kind project in terms of quality and size — 1,250 square miles is larger than the state of Rhode Island," Fisher said. "We work with a lot of agencies and municipalities; they all want to be part of this."
So far, 150 miles of greenway trails, including 79 miles of on-street bikeways, have been completed, GRG officials said. After the structures are built, the government agency where the greenways and trails are situated maintain them, Fisher said.
While the McKinley Bridge trestle was relatively enormous, most of the projects operate like the River Des Peres Greenway. It starts at Interstate 55 and includes a pedestrian and cycling bridge, completed last year. It crosses the River Des Peres near Morganford Road to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross from north and south of the river without mixing with heavy traffic. The River Des Peres Greenway remains a work in progress. Phase III of the project will take green spaces and trails to the Missouri River.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said through a spokesperson that the Great Rivers Greenway's focus on the River Des Peres has transformed "... a sewer into an urban attraction. That is civic alchemy at its best."
Last October, St. Louis was named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, in the top 15 cities in the United States. That was a turnaround from last year when St. Louis was deemed an unfriendly bike city. Officials who drew up the application for the designation included newly opened bicycle lanes, the bridges and boardwalks that weren't in the last evaluation.
Green space, parks and land dedicated to being clean and naturally beautiful, is necessary for healthy communities, said Janet Wilding, deputy director of administration for GRG.
After a crushing rush hour, a bicycle path or walking bridge or a quiet trail is a place to "walk, get some exercise, or just sit and relax," Wilding said.
In time, the Greenway's parks and trails will stretch from western St. Charles County to eastern St. Clair and Madison counties, Fisher said. "It's a 40-year project." Throughout the region, the GRG is buying land, mapping it, connecting existing trails, building new trails, Fisher said.
The priority is working from the most densely populated areas outward from the city, he said, "... places with the most roofs."
The next major project is an elevated skywalk from Cass Avenue in St. Louis that will connect with the Riverfront Trail and McKinley Bridge Bikeway and Trestle.
The structure will include an elevated park, one of three in the world, said Fisher. The others are in New York and Paris.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ©December 2009
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