Last month, Great Rivers Greenway officially opened one of the first major segments of the much anticipated Brickline Greenway, the massive $245 million project to connect Forest Park to the Arch Grounds and Tower Grove Park to Fairground Park with bike and pedestrian paths.
Front of mind for leaders of the project is its potential to drive sustained economic transformation in parts of North St. Louis that badly need it. In that regard, the Brickline follows in the footsteps of projects in other cities that are further along, both looking to replicate their successes as well as avoid the mistakes they made.
And the early indicators are strong.
“You’re doing all this learning right so you don’t make the mistakes that the rest of us have,” says Rachel Frierson, chief operating officer of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which operates and maintains Detroit’s riverfront, as well as three greenways…