Once again the Bicycle Coalition participated in the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives (CRTI). CRTI is an annual conference facilitated by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council for trail network advocates and managers that includes the Circuit Trails Coalition. We were joined by our colleagues from the Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation, Rails to Trails Conservancy and the East Coast Greenway Alliance. The first CRTI conference was in Philadelphia in 2018 and since then we attended conferences in Bentonville Arkansas, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
This year we met in St. Louis, a city that has lost more than 60% of its population since 1960. What remains are world-class islands of urban life dispersed between large areas of disinvestment, much of which is concentrated in neighborhoods that lie north of Delmar Boulevard, known as the Delmar Divide.
Great Rivers Greenway is the public agency connecting the St. Louis region with greenways. In 2000, a vote of the people created a sales tax to leave a legacy for future generations by connecting three counties together with greenways. You heard right, St. Louis Metro residents taxed themselves to create an entity to build a 600-mile trail network GRG manages many trail projects with the most important one being the Brickline Greenway which connect downtown St. Louis and North St. Louis to Forest Park, which will be the hub of the Greenway network. Much of the Brickline will involve creating space for the trail by implementing road diets on the City’s very wide arterial roads and beautification with first-class trails.
The first day of the conference started out with a walk on the recently completed segment of the Brickline Greenway at Citypark Stadium along Market St. in the former Mill Creek Valley Neighborhood where 20,000 residents were displaced for urban renewal projects after World War 2.
Great Rivers Greenways Communications Director Dallas Adams moderates a panel discussion on Community Building at the Deaconess Foundation in the Central West End neighborhood. Seated Left to Right: Durrell Smith-SLDC, Abdul Abdulah-Park Central Development, Chris Peoples-Great River Greenways, Shannon Dickerson-Invest STL and Andre Alexandar-Tabernacle CDC.
One of the most difficult barriers for the implementation urban greenways and trails is gaining support of residents who rightfully fear gentrification and displacement. GRG has partnered with local non-profits and engaged with communities in North St. Louis to gain support for building the trails. The planning for Brickline Greenline was not conceived in a vacuum but as a part of a larger strategy to revitalize neighborhoods while ensuring that long-time residents will be able to stay and benefit. Strategies to counter displacement include property maintenance for seniors, rental/mortgage and utility assistance and small business grants.
Currently, projects are lining up for completion of the $245 million project Greenway in phases by 2030. As a regional trails network, the Circuit Trails Coalition and other trail advocates can learn a lot from the Brickline Greenway partnerships.
Like Philadelphia, the St. Louis Metro spans two states, in addition to the 600 miles of trails being developed by GRG in Missouri there is the Katy Trail, the longest contiguous trail in the United States which connects via the Rock Island Trail to eastern suburbs of Kansas City. Over on the Illinois side, Madison County Transit Trails is a fully developed 130 mile trail network and yes it is managed by the County’s transit system (Map). St. Clair County has a 30-mile trail network known as MetroBikeLink and is interconnected with the Metrolink Light Rail system.
Daniel Paschall from the East Coast Greenway Alliance has put together photos from CRTI here.