Community Driven Since Day 1
CityArchRiver Project: Public-Private Partnership
Healthy Habitats Along Greenways
In 1996, business and civic leaders created St. Louis 2004, a nonprofit to bring a renaissance to the 12-county bi-state region. More than 10,000 people were polled, 1,200 people participated in visioning sessions, and action teams established major goals, including one for Parks and Open Space, working with existing agencies and nonprofits.
Within our mission to build greenways, we implement conservation projects along the way with partners, vendors and volunteers to:
Start
• Create or improve natural habitats along greenways such as prairies, wetlands and forests, where plants and animals thrive and floodwaters can be better managed.
Proof of Concept: Early Projects Once the sales tax revenue began in 2001, we focused on funding projects already underway through partnership efforts such as the development of the Confluence (now Mississippi) Greenway, the River des Peres Greenway (shown here), and a stormwater managment plan for the Dardenne Creek Watershed. By 2005, we had cut the ribbon on several new sections of the Meramec Greenway in Fenton, Kirkwood, and Wildwood.
The Voters Have Spoken The Clean Water, Safe Parks and Community Trails Initiative proposition called for 1/10th of one cent sales tax to generate more than $20 million each year in Missouri to improve local parks (50% of revenue) and develop the regional network of greenways (50% of revenue). On November 7, 2000, Proposition C passed in St. Louis City, St. Louis and St. Charles counties in Missouri and in Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois.
• Invite people to fall in love with and take care of our lands and waters through greenways, ongoing education and volunteering opportunities.
Between 2010 and 2012, we opened up nearly 30 miles of new greenways across the region for people to explore and enjoy! Some of the new miles were the St. Vincent, Boschert, Dardenne, Centennial, Meramec, and Sunset Greenways.
Strategic Plans Every 5 Years The second strategic plan update in 2010, through extensive community engagement, established an overall goal of the greenways to “make the St. Louis region a better place to live” in five key areas:
The community was also clear — although Great Rivers Greenway was set up to build the greenways — the agency also needed to help promote and sustain them.
• Connect communities and neighborhoods
While partners still did day-to-day care, we went on to create two new departments to market and activate the spaces and supplement their care with staff, vendors, volunteers, municipalities and local agencies.
• Preserve and connect people to nature
The first strategic plan in 2004/2005 focused on three outcomes a network of greenways could bring — economic development (strengthening economy, being a catalyst for growth), social capital (health, interactions, bonds) and environmental stewardship (preserves and enhances habitat).
Great Rivers Greenway is governed by a Board of Directors, appointed by the heads of the three counties we serve. Board members provide strategic and fiduciary oversight, approving plans, budgets and contracts at public monthly meetings.
Building More Miles For You
Beyond the Build: Establishing Promote & Sustain Teams
Strategic Plans Every 5 Years
Setting It Up
• Build connections for people to stay healthy and make active transportation choices that reduce car pollution.
• Improve economic vitality • Provide transportation choices • Promote good health
Stakeholders identified ways to improve the vibrancy and competitiveness of the St. Louis region. The possible routes were often named for the watersheds in our region.
Thanks to the increase in funds from Proposition P, Great Rivers Greenway was able to add new staff members to carry out the goals set for promoting and sustaining the greenways. “Team Promote” was established to expand programming and communications efforts to bring more people to the greenways and increase awareness. “Team Sustain” was created to work with regional partners to restore and enhance habitats, support our partners in their operations and maintenance efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of the greenways.
Strategic Plans Every 5 Years The next strategic plan update in 2015/2016 focused on improving internal operations. Great Rivers Greenway had many successful projects (113 miles of greenways) as well as many lessons learned. Much of this time in the agency’s history was spent developing and documenting best practices and operationalizing plans to achieve the goals set forth by the community.
Did you know that this vision takes major regional collaboration? We build the greenways, and our partners (towns, campuses, etc.) take care of the operations and maintenance, which is incredibly complex to implement.
What’s Next? (Flip Poster)
The Latest Greenways Added - 140 Miles and still Counting!
New greenways and groundbreakings are a fitting way to celebrate 25 years of Great Rivers Greenway in 2025! This year, another section of the Centennial Greenway in Olivette was added, and Oxford Bend Park on the Deer Creek Greenway is coming to life, along with as other projects across the region. To find the latest updates on all greenway projects in progress, visit GreatRiversGreenway.org
Partner Summit: Long-Term Greenway Care Dozens of our operational partners, including mayors and staff, gathered in fall 2023 to understand the challenges and opportunities around the region, brainstorm solutions for equitable distribution of resources, and envision the future of greenway care for years to come. Ideas included a consistent set of rules for the greenways (across jurisdictions) or how partners could work together or loan each other specialized equipment to best care for greenways.
More Greenways For You To Explore & Enjoy! In 2022 and 2023, we celebrated eight new projects across our community. New segments opened on the St. Vincent, Mississippi, Meramec, Centennial, Deer Creek and Brickline Greenways, across all three counties.
Brickline Greenway: More Than Just A Trail The Pillars of the Valley exhibit at Energizer Park is just one of the ways that the Brickline Greenway is connecting people to St. Louis. This art installation by Damon Davis, with more to come along Market Street to Harris-Stowe State University, honors the people of Mill Creek Valley. More at BricklineGreenway.org/millcreek
25 Milestones To Look Back Upon
Chain of Rocks Park Chain of Rocks Park on the Mississippi Greenway opened in April 2024, drawing from a variety of funding sources including local greenway tax dollars, a grant through the National Park Service and donations from local philanthropists. Improvements included new amenities like a shade shelter and drinking fountain as well as restored prairie, wetland and a permeable paver parking lot.
Strategic Plans Every 5 Years Despite a global pandemic, the team did wide-scale community engagement in late 2020 through 2022 to continue the strategic plan updates. While largely digital, more than 7,000 people participated in this process to envision the next 20 years for GRG. The key questions asked were about how and where to plan the next greenways, how to ensure an excellent visitor experience, defining our role in conservation, exploring the right model for operations and maintenance and ensuring equitable outcomes in our impact.
COV ID-19, Greenways Become Must-Haves
At the height of the 2020 pandemic, visits to the greenways shot up from 2 million to 3 million annually. Getting outside to take care of your physical, mental, emotional health was one of the only activities you could do, whether to get safe human connection or much-needed alone time. We heard from so many people that the greenways were critical to their quality of life, and the habits stuck!
Putting Systems in Place During this time (as always with the help of partners and community members) Great Rivers Greenway solidified guidelines for greenway design, civic engagement, interpretation and public art, brand and environmental graphics, inclusion, new sign standards, level of care for once the greenway is built and a project management software system to catalog timeline, budgets, stakeholders and risks.
Engagement At All Levels First, Often, Always
Throughout all stages, our greenway projects use a cycle of engagement that prioritizes community voice and input throughout planning and design. Our process allows the team to engage a variety of audiences throughout several phases; we “Ask” for input, “Align” community feedback with project feasibility and “Act” through advancing the project from phase to phase. We meet people where they are and build civic trust, involving the public in the project because we know they are the experts on their communities and their investment and ownership are crucial to long-term success.
Leveraging Your Investment Through the Great Rivers Greenway Foundation Even with steady sales tax revenues, the demand for greenways and the increasing costs and complexity of projects far surpasses the funds available — greenways can cost $5-$20 million per mile to construct! The Great Rivers Greenway Foundation launched in 2016 with the goal of supporting the mission and vision of the agency by soliciting private funding from grants, foundations and individual donors through a Friends program. Our community’s generosity supports capital projects, conservation programs and operations and maintenance of the greenways.
CityArchRiver Impact To St. Louis Part of our job of stewarding the taxpayers’ investment was to carefully divide the work into 14 different contracts so that local contractors had the capacity, bonding ability and insurance to bid. With our partners, we promoted opportunities so local businesses could understand the process, form teams with each other and submit their bids. And it worked! 87% of all contract dollars in the $380 million project went to 158 contracts with area firms. Great Rivers Greenway also played the role of coordinator for common site items, for consistency and quality control, such as high quality soil and amenities. We continue to support operations and maintenance today.
The CityArchRiver Project was a monumental undertaking from the beginning. The $380 million renovation of Gateway Arch National Park and its surrounding areas in downtown St. Louis was a historic partnership between the private sector and federal, state, and local government agencies to make the areas more accessible and dynamic. Core partners include the National Park Service, Missouri Department of Transportation, Great Rivers Greenway, Bi-State Development, Gateway Arch Park Foundation, and Jefferson National Parks Association.
Proposition P: The Safe and Accessible Arch and Public Parks Initiative In conjunction with the CityArchRiver Project, this second sales tax initiative, 3/16th of a cent, was put on the ballot and passed in St. Louis City and St. Louis County in April 2013. This tax was divided as well - 60% went to Great Rivers Greenway (half for greenways and half for the CityArchRiver project), while 40% went to the parks departments in those two counties.
Floodplains Along Greenways Have Important Jobs While it can be an inconvenience to have a greenway or park closed during a major flood, that’s by design, much better than people and their homes being in danger! Open spaces let floodplains do their jobs to absorb, filter and release water back into the watersheds. We work with many partners and landowners to build greenways, occasionally acquiring important floodplain lands to ensure they continue to do their job to slow down, spread out and soak up storm and flood waters.
Brickline Greenway Was Born The conceptual idea for the Chouteau Greenway to connect Forest Park and the Gateway Arch came from McCormack Baron Salazar in the late 1990s/early 2000s, before GRG. In late 2017, many partners came together to resurrect the idea through a privately-funded international design competition. Over 2,062 people contributed ideas and community and stakeholder groups guided the competition. Companies and individuals from around the world (19 teams) submitted qualifications, 4 were hired to create concepts for the community to review, and a final vision was chosen to move forward. More than 1,000 ideas for names from the community included the final choice: “Brickline Greenway”.