urbanSTL

I wrote in my comments today.

Shamelessly went on about the benefits of removing 1-70 instead of the 3 block lid. I don't care about the 50th anniversary end point. There is a bigger picture here that is being side-stepped. They need to hear this frequently and from as many people as possible.

(by the way, where was the historical impact study when 40 blocks of irreplaceable heritage were leveled in the first place)

Hard to not be bitter.

imran wrote:I wrote in my comments today.

Shamelessly went on about the benefits of removing 1-70 instead of the 3 block lid. I don't care about the 50th anniversary end point. There is a bigger picture here that is being side-stepped. They need to hear this frequently and from as many people as possible.

(by the way, where was the historical impact study when 40 blocks of irreplaceable heritage were leveled in the first place)

Hard to not be bitter.

imran, very good post and points.

yes, as this is the " public scoping" phase for the Environmental Assesment it is important for people to submit comments on the proposal and suggest things that they feel are important to be included in the Assessment but are missing in the proposal.

As far as the Boulevard goes, there also will be an companion Environmental Assessment conducted by MODOT as the lead agency to look at the I-70 infrastructure, including the proposed lid and proposed additional ramps. As you are an advocate for the boulevard, its great that you made comments in this EA but you'll also want to keep an eye out for the release of the MODOT EA as well.

And regarding the original Arch project, it predated the NEPA act so there was no requirement for environmental studies or public involvement. We now have this and it is the law, so it is important for people to participate in the process and let their voices be known.

NPS comments now being accepted. Information about this on CityArchRiver website = 0.

I guess they can't do anything until they hire their "communications coordinator."

A bit of news, lid planning moving forward with $2 million dollar federal grant to NPS. Understand not the ideal change desired.

Plan for `lid' from Arch grounds over I-70 advances

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 350cf.html

I do think their is still time to at least advocate an at street intersetion Washington Ave (instead of the proposed exit ramps) with a blvd extending to the new Mississippi River Bridge. The catalyst for this agrument is incorporating it into a revamped Edwards Domes proposal that is due in the near future. In other words better access through infrastructure changes while creating development opportunities within the vicintity of the dome. To do that, build at lease a portion of Memorial Blvd.

Gotta love Charlie Brennan...update on the Arch Ground Revitalization 8/31/11

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/?podcast_ur ... id=CBS.STL

Gotta love Charlie Brennan...update on the Arch Ground Revitalization 8/31/11

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/?podcast_ur ... id=CBS.STL

It shows that CityArchRiver hasn't been doing the greatest job when Brennan doesn't know the name of the organization. He thought it was City-to-River (which shows that City-to-River has been doing good work promoting their cause). I don't get the silence by the NPS or CityArchRiver over this whole thing. Maybe its just the annoying process of government as usual

It looks like public comments have been removed from the City+Arch+River website (at least, I'm not seeing them anywhere). My best guess is that they've dropped the old ones to make way for the new ones coming in from JNEM's public outreach period. Though the conspiracy theorist in me likes to think there was just WAY too big of a City to River slant on there and they wanted to quell any more potential support for the initiative.

The latest from the P-D: Pedestrian 'lid' over highway on track for Arch improvements:

In an update today on the project to improve the Gateway Arch riverfront park, leaders said they are confident of completing "major elements" by their self-imposed deadline of fall 2015.

That includes the long-discussed pedestrian walkway, or "lid," over the below-ground lanes of Interstate 70 at the riverfront park. But they said they didn’t know how much they can finish of a planned expansion on the East St. Louis riverfront, and said they wouldn’t be ready with a an aerial gondola ride across the Mississippi River.

rbeedee wrote:The latest from the P-D: Pedestrian 'lid' over highway on track for Arch improvements:

In an update today on the project to improve the Gateway Arch riverfront park, leaders said they are confident of completing "major elements" by their self-imposed deadline of fall 2015.

That includes the long-discussed pedestrian walkway, or "lid," over the below-ground lanes of Interstate 70 at the riverfront park. But they said they didn’t know how much they can finish of a planned expansion on the East St. Louis riverfront, and said they wouldn’t be ready with a an aerial gondola ride across the Mississippi River.

Or any upgrades to the riverfront. Or to the north Archgrounds. Or the south Archgrounds. But hey, we'll have the lid and a new museum + entrance (maybe).

[Edit: Oh,and a redesign of the already popular and unique Kiener Plaza]

And really, if that's all this project was labeled as -- new access to the Archgrounds/Museum of Western Expansion -- those two changes would be amazing, and I expect funding would be incredibly easy. But with this 50th Anniversary $500 million redesign plan in play, that cool upgrade to a world-renown monument kind of loses its luster in a big way...especially when seemingly 70% of the project has already been scaled down or removed entirely.

Kevin B wrote:

rbeedee wrote:The latest from the P-D: Pedestrian 'lid' over highway on track for Arch improvements:

In an update today on the project to improve the Gateway Arch riverfront park, leaders said they are confident of completing "major elements" by their self-imposed deadline of fall 2015.

That includes the long-discussed pedestrian walkway, or "lid," over the below-ground lanes of Interstate 70 at the riverfront park. But they said they didn’t know how much they can finish of a planned expansion on the East St. Louis riverfront, and said they wouldn’t be ready with a an aerial gondola ride across the Mississippi River.

Or any upgrades to the riverfront. Or to the north Archgrounds. Or the south Archgrounds. But hey, we'll have the lid and a new museum + entrance (maybe).

[Edit: Oh,and a redesign of the already popular and unique Kiener Plaza]

Not mentioning the museum expansion + new entrance caught my eye and put a maybe in mind also. This part along with Kiener Plaza is a pre requestive and what will make the lid meaningful improvement in my opinion.

Not really surprised about East side at this point, I think its going to take a lot more things to come together then what appears in the design. As far as the ride across, its about market studies, business plans and financials for this to happen which will depend a lot on the initial changes bringing more people to visit.

doug wrote:If our elected officials like Slay or members of the Board of Aldermen would endorse removing the highway then it would be gone. This is our City and they are the leaders. MoDot and the NPS are not going to tell the Mayor and Board of Aldermen that they wouldn't support something if they all stood behind it.

If these leaders would look at the economic development results of removing highways which other cities captured then they should conclude this would be a game changer. Unlike promises from China we would actually see the results locally right across the street and engage in far less of a risk. This is a small section of the highway which won't be necessary anymore that affords development prime views of the Arch and Region. It will connect us to our river which was our first medium of commerce. The highway has only been our demise. Remove it.

Question:

If City to River were to succeed, and Memorial Drive became a boulevard shifted east toward the Archgrounds, who owns the develop-able land where the former southbound Memorial lanes are/were? The city? The state? If it's the city, then don't they have every reason to encourage this and smartly sell off different parcels. The city gets money from the sale, taxes from new businesses and credit for a bold move to restructure and strengthen its downtown core.

Er, the City? The same people who welcomed Ballpark Village with open arms?

News from the City+Arch+River Competition. In Tweet form (10/28/11):

"Happy 46th birthday to the Arch! We continue to look forward with excitement to October 28, 2015!" http://twitter.com/#!/CityArchRiver

Well, that was nice of them. Those are exactly the kinds of informative, community-engaging comments we want regarding the City+Arch+River competition.

Kevin B wrote:News from the City+Arch+River Competition. In Tweet form (10/28/11):

"Happy 46th birthday to the Arch! We continue to look forward with excitement to October 28, 2015!" http://twitter.com/#!/CityArchRiver

Well, that was nice of them. Those are exactly the kinds of informative, community-engaging comments we want regarding the City+Arch+River competition.

We are all entirely too unimportant for the Great White Fathers to waste their time explaining their unchallengeable wisdom to us.

Is it possible that there is still no news on any of this? This blows my mind. Gosh I've told about 20 people about this project and only 2 people know about this (both are Architects). I guess they are keep expectations all the way in the basement.

Without the nextSTL forum I wouldn't even know about this. nextSTL for president !

The lid idea is so unbelievably dated and stupid its shocking. The fact that highway removal is not even being considered shows how dedicated to the car culture this region, MODOT, and the feds are.