Phase 2 Open House:

We’ve been hard at work on the design of Phase 2 of the project along Sarah Street between Vandeventer Avenue and Forest Park Boulevard. We are excited to share the design and get your feedback at a community open house meeting on Wednesday, May 22. Attendees are welcome to stop by the open house anytime between 4 and 7 pm to see the streetscape design and renderings. The project team will be available to answer questions and receive feedback throughout the event. Details shared during the open house will also be posted here after the event.
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Date: May 22, 2024
Time: 4 - 7pm
Location: Missouri Foundation for Health. 4254 Vista Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110
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Community Input

Community input is essential to making sure the Tower Grove Connector best serves the people of the City and region. At different stages of the project, there will be informal and formal opportunities to participate and provide input. Join our mailing list to be the first to learn about public meetings, opportunities to share your feedback, and the latest project updates.

Past Engagement

In ways large and small, community input has already helped shape the project.
Here are two examples of how public input has improved the design of this project:

1) Vandeventer Avenue

street view of vandeventer facing North east, shows 4 lanes of car traffic with sidewalks on either side of the street

rendering of the same north east view of vandeventer showing two car travel lanes, with a middle turn lane. Has a sidewalk on the left side of the image (the north west side of the street). On the right hand (South east) side of the street it shows a parking lane with planted curb extensions, and new trees, a two lane cycle track and sidewalk.

One of the major updates to come from community input is a change to the layout of the travel lanes on Vandeventer Avenue. These design updates include:

maintaining parking on both sides of the street
creating space for new trees and landscaping
adding a larger buffer to separate cars from cyclists and pedestrians
establishing a center turn lane for vehicles to reduce congestion and improve safety

Together with traffic signal improvements, these changes are projected to reduce vehicle delays, support businesses, and improve the walking and biking experience along this stretch of Vandeventer Avenue.

An illustration of the differences between the existing and proposed changes to a typical section of Vandeventer. It shows the addition of the center turn lane, the addition of the cycle track and buffer and creating wider parking lanes on both sides of the street

2) Mid-block crossings on Tower Grove Avenue

Map of tower grove avenue between magnolia and shaw with cross streets labled. the map shows the location of three proposed raised, mid-block crosswalks

Based on feedback from the community, the design team has added the following three locations for mid-block raised crosswalks along Tower Grove Avenue between Magnolia Boulevard and Shaw Boulevard.
These locations are at Flora Place, Cleveland Avenue and just south of Botanical Avenue.

The Tower Grove Connector grew out of community engagement efforts that began in 2016. From 2016 to 2018, more than 4,000 St. Louis City residents and 50 partner organizations gave input that shaped the local non-profit advocate Trailnet's Connecting St. Louis Plan. Based on that input, Tower Grove Avenue and Vandeventer Avenue were identified as a recommended route for upgrades.

Following the recommendations of that plan, the project partners engaged local landscape architecture firm, SWT Design and Brooklyn-based design firm, DLANDstudio to conduct a feasibility study specifically for the corridor between the Cortex District and Tower Grove Park. Those partners included Arch to Park, BJC HealthCare, City of St. Louis, Cortex Innovation Community, Missouri Botanical Garden, Park Central Development Corporation, Tower Grove Park, Tower Grove Neighborhood CDC, Trailnet, Washington University, Washington University Medical Center, and Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation. The resulting Cortex-Tower Grove Connector Plan outlines barriers and opportunities, identifies the recommended route, and showcases preliminary renderings to help envision the transformation of the corridor.

In 2020, together with community partners, the City of St. Louis applied for a federal construction grant to build a two-way protected bike lane (two-way cycle track) along Tower Grove Avenue and Vandeventer Avenue from Tower Grove Park to Sarah Street. Residents overwhelmingly supported the project during a public comment window and the project was awarded $5.59 million later that year. In 2022, the City of St. Louis applied for a federal construction grant to extend the cycle track along Sarah Street from Vandeventer Avenue to the Brickline Greenway. Phase 2 of the project was awarded $3.42M later that year.
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Here are a sample of public comments received during the CMAQ grant application:

word bubbles describing community suppor

Phase 2 Open House:

Community Input

Past Engagement

1) Vandeventer Avenue

2) Mid-block crossings on Tower Grove Avenue

Click the links below to explore the previous plans.

Cortex-Tower Grove Connector

Connecting St. Louis

Project Updates