Although it wasn't the "environmentally preferred" alternative of the National Park Service, federal officials have given a thumbs-up to a plan to change the Arch grounds.
The Park Service today issued a "Finding of No Significant Impact" - meaning that CityArchRiver 2015 and its architect have worked to limit the damage the $380 million project could do to the environment. The report says that while only completing the so-called "Park Over the Highway" would have "the least impact on the biological and physical environment, and would best protect and preserve cultural resources," such an option did not fit into the agency's master plan for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Today's decision concludes the environmental assessment, and is another regulatory checkmark for the project. Work is scheduled to begin on the cap over Interstate 70 in August.
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