Will St. Louis Become the Next City to Demolish Its Elevated Urban Highway?

Recently the city's development corporation released its "Request for Proposals for Downtown Multimodal Access Study," the most significant step yet in efforts to convert a portion of I-70, adjacent to the famed Gateway Arch and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial park, into an urban boulevard, reports Ihnen.

According to Ihnen, "The aging Interstate and the challenge of activating an urban national park recently led to yet another attempt to redefine the city's riverfront. In 2009, the National Park Service completed an overdue general management plan, the first in the park's history. While proposing various options, the plan stated that the NPS 'prefers and strongly supports the removal of the Interstate highway' adjacent to the Arch."

A groundswell of local groups have lined up behind efforts to demolish the elevated highway and "Development Strategies, a real estate, community and economic development consultant firm estimated that removing I-70 and replacing it with an urban boulevard would created more than $1.1B in new development opportunities for the city."