Streetscapes 3.20.2007 | 5 Comment(s)

Downtown needs to start on a comprehensive streetscape improvement plan yesterday. I don't think downtown looks or feels "dirty", but it does feel "tired". Some new sidewalks, street trees and colorful plantings would go a long way in dressing up downtown streets.

Memorial Drive is disgusting, I can't believe that mess is what welcomes visitors to St. Louis' national monument. Embarassing. 4th street, as it stands now, is just a mess. North of Market, there is too much going on visually and the way finding could use a touch up. I believe around Olive and 4th there is a directional highway sign that looks to have originally been freestanding. It currently hangs crooked from a light post with a metal pole from its freestanding days dangling behind the blue highway shield. This sign is right by the Adam's Mark Hotel...not exactly a nice sight for tourists, or downtown workers for that matter.

4th street has a few hotels along it, so it seems to me this street would be tree-lined and decked out with flowers. Not so. And there seems to be plenty of room for these improvements. The sidewalk around Gentry's Landing feels awfully wide. Some color on the eastern half of 4th street might offset the sterile, stone plaza that sits outside the Federal Reserve at Locust and 4th. Blech, is that plaza nasty.

Broadway could use similar treatments. The improvements made around the Marquette Building are nice, perhaps a street plan could take cues from this redeveloped area? From Chestnut to Washington, Memorial Drive to Tucker, I'd like to see all the sidewalks and streets improved. Big dreams, but someone should work on making it happen.

I do appreciate the downtown guides and street cleaners. It's nice to see those guys out there with a broom and dustpan.

I think what Downtown streets need are just a punch of color...and maybe that will come now that we are headed into spring.

By  DeBaliviere, at 10:50 AM

I totally agree with you.

The work that Gateway Greening/Urban Roots did along Market and Tucker last year was so awesome, I hope that the program can be expanded.

Check out page 9 of this PDF to see what Fourth Street would look like with trees - this document is several years old, so I have no idea where these plans stand:

http://stlouis.missouri.org/development/downtown-now/reports/StreetPg20_29.pdf

By  Paul Hohmann, at 6:49 PM

A complete re-do of Downtown's streetscapes including new sidewalks, trees, street lights, etc. is in the works. Pyramid Companies is teaming up with the City and State of MO to implement this through a funding mechanism known as MODESA. It is similar to a TIF, in that tax money is diverted to fund improvements in the public realm, such as streetscaping. The exact timing is not yet set, nor is the phasing. It will take many years to do all the streets Downtown, but we have to start somewhere. In a totally seperate project, along memeorial drive, there are plans to build a lanscaped "lid" over I-70 for three blocks between Pine and Walnut. It is parially being funded by the Danforth Foundation. Not sure of the timing of this... I believe it is in design phase.

By  DeBaliviere, at 10:43 AM

^
Will the Pyramid/MODESA plan just be for streetscape improvements around Pyramid's developments, or will it encompass a larger area?

By  Anonymous, at 12:52 PM

The MODESA funds cover a large area of downtown, not just around Pyramid's projects. Pyramid was chosen to implement the plan, which is still being developed.

By  MH, at 8:58 PM

Hopefully they are using the HOK streetscape plan for this project, else yet another expensive study down the drain. Why should we pay two different firms to design the same thing, if that is indeed happening?