What once was a plan to build a continuous greenway along St. Louis’ Chouteau Avenue has morphed into something even bigger — and, after a year of planning and civic engagement, Great Rivers Greenway has released a 140-page document outlining the overall aims of the project.
Described as a “major public-private partnership to bring a longtime vision to life,” the design and construction phases are still to come. But the overall plan involves creating a network of up to 20 miles of paved paths in the city, stretching east to west from the Arch to Forest Park and north to south from Fairground Park to Tower Grove Park.
On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske got a status update from Emma Klues, Great Rivers Greenway’s vice president of communications and outreach.
“In the last couple of years, as we’ve really gotten the project re-kicked off with a design competition, we really heard from community [members] that it’s important to east-west but also north-south to all the neighborhoods where people live, and some kind of loop in the middle,” Klues said. “So now there are multiple route options that are being studied, and it doesn’t go along Chouteau as the primary route anymore.”
They also discussed Great Rivers Greenway’s open call for St. Louisans to come up with ideas for a name “that’s easier to say/spell [than Chouteau Greenway] and also more meaningful for everyone.”
People can submit ideas through Jan. 31 at greatriversgreenway.org/name-the-greenway/, or by texting the word “NAME” to 77222.
Listen to the full discussion:
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill, Lara Hamdan and Tonina Saputo. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.
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