The Brickline Greenway is meant to be a game changer 鈥� with up to 20 miles of separated bike and pedestrian paths linking parts of St. Louis that often feel like green islands in a car-centric city. Under a public-private partnership, Great Rivers Greenway will develop paths from the Arch to Forest Park and then north to Fairground Park and south to Tower Grove Park, connecting as many as 17 city neighborhoods in the process.
All that doesn鈥檛 come cheap; the total cost is an estimated $250 million to $300 million. But in recent weeks, Great Rivers Greenway has gotten two big monetary infusions for the project: a $4 million grant to pay for the path from Sarah Street to Grand Avenue and $15 million for the northern segment from Fairground Park to Forest Park.
The latter grant, announced Tuesday, comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation鈥檚 RAISE discretionary grant program.
Emma Klues, Great Rivers Greenways鈥� vice president of communications and outreach, explained on Thursday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air that the grants are a 鈥渉uge boost in the arm for the project.鈥�
The Brickline Greenway (originally conceived as the 鈥淐houteau Greenway鈥�) has been talked about for decades, with planning in earnest underway since 2017. 鈥淲e know it will take all kinds of different people working together to bring it to life,鈥� Klues said. 鈥淔ederal grants are a huge piece of that. 鈥� When we鈥檙e ready to go into construction, there will be a great source of funding there, from this federal grant.鈥�
Development won鈥檛 begin in earnest for a few more years, and even after that it will take years to complete. But work will actually begin soon on the piece of it connected to the St. Louis City Stadium being built in Downtown West to house the city鈥檚 new Major League Soccer team.
鈥淭hey are already in construction now,鈥� she explained. 鈥淲e鈥檙e coordinating with them so the piece of the Brickline heading along Market Street will go into construction here in the next few months.鈥�
That segment of the paths runs from 20th and Market to Compton near the campus of Harris-Stowe State University. 鈥淭hat will be one segment that will probably move fairly quickly,鈥� Klues said.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
