The $578 million plan to overhaul the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (better known as the Arch) now has oversight in place.
Just two days after architectural company Michael VanValkenburgh and Associates unveiled more details of their plan, the Bi-State Development Agency (the entity better known as Metro that oversees the Downtown St. Louis Airport, among other development ventures) voted to establish the TransRiver Authority.
The authority's five-member board and a small staff will basically be the project's traffic cops, says Arch superintendent Tom Bradley.
"They can coordinate activities, they can keep the schedule moving, they can assure that we get the best prices so, this was a pretty important move," he says of the Board of Commissioner's action to establish the authority.
He says he and the board members will be talking to organizations that worked on Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the Statue of Liberty National Monument to hear their best practices.
