urbanSTL

Woo! Almost there!

Some neat progress photos of the entrance taken during a press site visit this morning

STL Today - Gateway Arch museum, visitors center to open in time for Fair St. Louis
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/new- ... e-latest-1

The museum "roof" is completely sodded. Huzzah!!

imran wrote:I'd like to take this opportunity to remind us all that the reason cityarchriver refused to entertain the popular idea of highway removal and replacement with an at-grade blvd was that it could not be completed by 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Arch.

Well, the 75th anniversary would be a good time to have the highway gone. By then, the definition of urbanism will be different so hopefully on the 65th anniversary they reveal a plan to either cap or remove the highway

imran wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2017

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind us all that the reason cityarchriver refused to entertain the popular idea of highway removal and replacement with an at-grade blvd was that it could not be completed by 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Arch.

Was it not to be on the shoulders of MoDot?

I highly doubt MoDot was going to spend the money to fix the problem, or even acknowledge that it's a problem to begin with. I know, I know, allowing an entire population to drive around your urban core isn't an issue.

So here is what the Arch Grounds look like from the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. Now that the grass is over the Museum under the Arch, we can get an idea of how high the bump is compared to before. I believe it is a little higher than the original bump, but not noticeably higher. Looks good.

Arch_Malcomb_Park2 by Gary Kreie, on Flickr

There appear to be wedding pictures in progress today. This is the best web cam of St. Louis -- full realtime video.

https://www.meprd.org/archcam.html

^Must be one of the Griswold kids getting married.

gary kreie wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2017

So here is what the Arch Grounds look like from the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. Now that the grass is over the Museum under the Arch, we can get an idea of how high the bump is compared to before. I believe it is a little higher than the original bump, but not noticeably higher. Looks good.

Arch_Malcomb_Park2 by Gary Kreie, on Flickr

There appear to be wedding pictures in progress today. This is the best web cam of St. Louis -- full realtime video.

https://www.meprd.org/archcam.html

The BPV residential tower should provide a nice bump to the lefthand side of our skyline from this view.

If I did the math right I think it will mostly fill the hole between the Clarion (Stouffer's) and the . . . Deloitte building? (Formerly the MCI building. The green one.) That's pretty close to the shot I used for my little mock-up last fall, and unless they've significantly changed the plan (and I don't believe it's changed much in size or proportion, just finish), I actually did some math to figure out the perspective. It should look just a skosh shorter than Clarion, but it's quite a lot bulkier from that side, so it'll overlap in both directions, principally to the north of the round tower. Won't really add height there, I think. But it will make it fuller. Beefier. Shinier, even. Here's to hoping.

The bump in the grass will be great for the concerts during VP Fair

Morning in St. Louis.



From STLFromAbove Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/STLFromAbove/

Just walked down Memorial Dr, and it’s such an absolute shame that Civic Leaders were so shortsighted to allow an interstate to cut off downtown from the arch grounds. The real estate lining an at grade Memorial Drive would be spectacular and priceless!

gary kreie wrote: Morning in St. Louis.

This is awesome. Thanks for posting.

imran wrote: ↑

Oct 28, 2017

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2017

imran wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2017

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind us all that the reason cityarchriver refused to entertain the popular idea of highway removal and replacement with an at-grade blvd was that it could not be completed by 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Arch.

Was it not to be on the shoulders of MoDot?

I highly doubt MoDot was going to spend the money to fix the problem, or even acknowledge that it's a problem to begin with. I know, I know, allowing an entire population to drive around your urban core isn't an issue.

Well, thinking about it, MODOT keeps crying about not having enough $$ to maintain their bloated system. It would've helped them to have one less stretch of redundant highway on their backs. From what I recall it was City arch river that simply refused to engage in the idea of an at grade boulevard. They were all about the 'Lid' despite a very strong grassroots plea for a more valuable long term solution.

Can't quite tell if your comment about driving around the urban core is sarcasm but there is over-whelming evidence/experience that highways cutting through the core do not help communities/cities.

It was sarcasm. It isn't good for Downtown or the surrounding neighborhoods. I mean, the effects are visible just in how neighborhoods were carved away and our population completely fled from the 50's to 70's.

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 28, 2017

imran wrote: ↑

Oct 28, 2017

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2017

Was it not to be on the shoulders of MoDot?

I highly doubt MoDot was going to spend the money to fix the problem, or even acknowledge that it's a problem to begin with. I know, I know, allowing an entire population to drive around your urban core isn't an issue.

Well, thinking about it, MODOT keeps crying about not having enough $$ to maintain their bloated system. It would've helped them to have one less stretch of redundant highway on their backs. From what I recall it was City arch river that simply refused to engage in the idea of an at grade boulevard. They were all about the 'Lid' despite a very strong grassroots plea for a more valuable long term solution.

Can't quite tell if your comment about driving around the urban core is sarcasm but there is over-whelming evidence/experience that highways cutting through the core do not help communities/cities.

It was sarcasm. It isn't good for Downtown or the surrounding neighborhoods. I mean, the effects are visible just in how neighborhoods were carved away and our population completely fled from the 50's to 70's.

I keep thinking about this with the Amazon proposal. They want to put them on the Riverfront but just wait till they see how cut off it is from the urban core.

Nice new drone shot of the Arch by a New York photographer who looks for great scenes all over the World. Stephen Barna.

https://www.facebook.com/barnadrift/

Has anyone contacted them to ask if/when the path to the south of the new entrance is opening? It looks like they've been trying to get the access point open, they just need to finish a few details and move the construction fence. I've never contacted them before and wanted to check here before e-mailing them.

Looks like all the sod is in now around the new Arch entrance.

Really pisses me off that they haven't prioritized getting the south side of the cap open. They've been finishing all this surface work with no apparent priorities to reopen access to downtown. The only possible exception being the priority to reconnect to the Landing.

I was seriously expecting them to set up a construction fence and open up the path to the right in this image.

gary kreie wrote: ↑

Nov 30, 2017

Looks like all the sod is in now around the new Arch entrance.

I hereby dub thee 'the uvula'.

-RBB

On their Facebook page, I asked when one of the sidewalks from Luther Ely Smith park past the new entrance to an Arch leg will open. They replied they are shooting for Spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

gary kreie wrote: ↑

Dec 04, 2017

On their Facebook page, I asked when one of the sidewalks from Luther Ely Smith park past the new entrance to an Arch leg will open. They replied they are shooting for Spring.

If anyone wants to go throw eggs at the 7th floor of One Memorial Drive with me, meet me down there at 10:00 a.m. today.
I'm sorry, but this is a huge stain on the tourist experience here. Downtown is bad enough as it is (speaking as a DT resident and worker). Every single time I walk down to Luther Ely Smith, I end up telling some very lost group of people how to get to the other side of the highway. Literally every single time.