After five years of planning and construction, 7th Street in downtown St. Louis looks very different than it did before.
The city calls the stretch of road between Busch Stadium and the Dome at America’s Center “a connection between two major downtown anchors.” The improvements to the road include repaving it, adding new trees and lighting, sidewalk and crosswalk improvements, traffic management upgrades and protected bike lanes.
Those bike lanes are especially important to Mayor Cara Spencer, who biked to a Friday press conference.
“I am a cyclist myself, and this is just an incredible improvement to the infrastructure down here in downtown,” Spencer said. “Downtowns that grow are downtowns that are built for people, not just cars, and this is the way it should be.”
The completion of this project comes as many other improvements to downtown are also in progress. Last week, the Gateway Arch Park Foundation closed on the Millennium Hotel, marking the first step in transforming the site where it stands into a multi-use space. In March, the city purchased a vacant parking garage by the Railway Exchange Building with plans to demolish it. The city is also working to acquire the building itself through eminent domain.
Kurt Weigle, chief downtown officer of Greater St. Louis Inc., attributed the progress to the collaboration between the city’s public and private sectors. The city has partnered with Weigle’s organization, the St. Louis Development Corporation, Explore St. Louis and other companies in an effort to revitalize downtown.
“This momentum is taking place because of … the business and civic communities here coming together, collaborating in public-private partnership that is taking focused and intentional action to revitalize the heart of St. Louis,” Weigle said.
He said one goal of the improvements is to attract more customers to local businesses.
Greater St. Louis Inc. recently gave a grant to Poy Wanna, who owns the Thai restaurant Aubergine Cafe on North 7th Street. The grant is to help her improve her signage. Wanna said that since the improvements started, she is already seeing more people walking and biking downtown.
“I’m one of the proud business owners here in downtown St. Louis, and I am very, very excited about our future,” Wanna said.
Future road improvements in or near downtown are coming to 20th Street, Tucker Boulevard and Broadway. A spokesperson for Spencer said the construction on Broadway is already in progress.
