The Great Rivers Greenway District, in partnership with St. Louis City, is inviting area residents to attend a groundbreaking celebration on Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. for a key segment of the St. Vincent Greenway. The event will mark the start of construction of a new 1.3-mile trail segment that, once complete, will run through Porter Park north to Etzel Avenue and west on Etzel to Skinker Blvd. in St. Louis City. The brief groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the south end of Porter Park at Delmar Blvd. and DaBaliviere Ave. The new segment is expected to be completed next June.

The new extension is anticipated to revise the usage of public right-of-way along Etzel Ave. from Skinker Blvd. eastward to Porter Park, allowing for a physical separation of the greenway route from vehicles. Construction will involve resurfacing the existing sidewalk that runs through Porter Park as a 10-foot-wide paved trail. Porter Park will also see many upgrades, including interpretive signs prepared by the Missouri History Museum, sculptures by local artists Robert Tebogo Schultz and Thomas Sleet and benches and trash receptacles welded by four youths from the surrounding neighborhood. Attendees will be able to preview the art that is already underway and vote on preferences for banners, umbrella colors and languages for a peace pole that will be incorporated into the park. They will also be able to view progress displays and plans for the remainder of the St. Vincent Greenway. Susan Trautman, Executive Director of The Great Rivers Greenway District, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Ward 26 Alderman Frank Williamson will be on hand to speak at the ceremony. Joe Edwards will also be present and will speak about the Loop Trolley project, which is vital to the planned St. Vincent Greenway extension from Porter Park to Forest Park. When the Loop Trolley project is up and running, St. Vincent Greenway will continue down DeBaliviere Ave., running alongside the Loop Trolley, south to Forest Park.

Once complete, the St. Vincent Greenway, which will serve as a key pathway between Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will run from Forest Park to NorthPark, providing residents with access to St. Vincent Park, Engelholm Creek, seven MetroLink stations, the UMSL campus and the St. Louis County communities included in Beyond Housing’s 24:1 community building initiative and the West End and Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhoods in the city.

To date, 3.8 miles have been completed. For more information, visit www.grgstl.org.

This entry was posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:38 am and is filed under Community Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.