ST. LOUIS • Regional officials turned ceremonial dirt Thursday afternoon on Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard, the second major component of the $380 million Gateway Arch Grounds overhaul.
The river road will get a redesign, with bicycle and pedestrian paths, plus a lift of about 2½ feet to raise it largely out of the Mississippi River floodplain.
Susan Trautman, executive director of the Great Rivers Greenway public trail district, said actual construction is expected to start in a few weeks.
Her board on Tuesday approved nearly $24 million in contracts to eight local companies: Castle Contracting, D&S Fencing, Gerstner Electric, Goodwin Brothers Construction, LanDesign landscaping, Pangea Group, St. Louis Bridge Construction and XL Contracting.
Great Rivers estimates the project will cost $33 million in total, including design costs, paid for with $11 million in local trail tax dollars, $11 million from a federal highway grant, $4 million from the Missouri Department of Transportation, $3.5 million from the CityArchRiver foundation, $3 million from the National Park Service and $700,000 from Metro Transit.
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The groundbreaking drew about 200 to the riverfront Thursday afternoon, including dozens of area leaders, from city aldermen to national highway and parks officials.
“This project has been one of St. Louis’ top development priorities,” Mayor Francis Slay told them. “We are united and committed as a region to make this succeed.”
Trautman said she will release road closure information in a few weeks.
