St. Louis, MO
DG2 Design led the team helping Great Rivers Greenway with the master plan and planning the extension of Grant’s Trail beginning at the new trailhead at Orlando’s extending to where it connects to the River des Peres Greenway. The master plan for the Gravois Greenway calls for the expansion of this former railroad corridor from where it ended at Orlando’s to connect to the River des Peres Greenway just south of Interstate 55. The new piece of greenway will link six densely populated municipalities and portions of unincorporated St. Louis County from Kirkwood to the St. Louis City limits near River City Casino. In the future, the River des Peres Greenway will connect to the Mississippi Greenway-tying together three greenways.
In 2012 the landscape architects began the planning process for the long-awaited connection between Grant’s trail, which ended close to Union Road and Highway 55. The trail extension was built in three phases. Phase one included a new parking lot, trailhead, and restroom. Phases 2 and 3 were complete in 2020. These phases extend past the new trailhead and include a boardwalk through a wetland, a recycle node near an industrial recycling center, a 1000’ bridge across Bayless Avenue, two neighborhood connections, an underpass under Weber Road, and then bridges the River des Peres to connect into The River des Peres Greenway. The Gravois Greenway totals ten miles and connects to the River des Peres Greenway an eleven-mile corridor.
10 Years in the Making
This kind of project takes an immense amount of work and collaboration. Special thanks to:
- Staff members Lonny Boring, Angelica Gutierrez, Todd Antoine and the rest of the team working on engagement, conservation, finance and fundraising.
- Great Rivers Greenway Board of Directors
- Great Rivers Greenway Foundation Board of Directors and all of the donors (listed in the video)
- Partners: St. Louis County Parks, City of St. Louis Parks Department and Board of Public Service, Missouri Department of Transportation, Ameren Missouri, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Republic Services and thanks to Trailnet for establishing the first parts of Grant’s Trail years ago
- Consultants: DG2 Design, Remiger Design, Reitz & Jens, Inc., CMT, Inc., CBB Transportation Engineers + Planners, Civil Design, Inc., BSI Constructors, TSi Geotechnical, Terracon, Efficacy Consulting and subconsultants/suppliers: PermaTrak and Wheeler
- Prime Contractors on construction include Gershenson Construction Co., R.V. Wagner Construction Co, R.G. Ross Construction Co., Bloomsdale Excavating, Byrne & Jones, Landesign
