Brickline Greenway North Connector

Residents of Greater St. Louis enjoy a regional trail system built by Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) and managed with dozens of partnering agencies, with 135 miles of paved trails across a 1,200-square-mile district of three counties and 120 towns. It is funded by a regional sales tax approved by voters in 2000 and managed by a public agency. The Brickline Greenway represents their first major urban trail, linking 14 neighborhoods and four major parks through the center of St. Louis, including parts of the city that have lacked investment for decades.

The GRG selected SmithGroup to develop the Brickline's North Connector, a 2.1-mile segment connecting Fairground Park to St. Louis University. Half the trail will run along Spring Avenue and the other along Grand Boulevard, a busy thoroughfare in poor condition that passes through resilient yet impoverished neighborhoods where more than one-third of homes stand vacant. But the opportunities were even greater: to build a physical backbone that would improve safety, reconnect its residents, and reactivate the community.

SmithGroup compiled an experienced regional mobility team of landscape architects and civil engineers from its Midwest offices, also working with local partners David Mason and Associates (civil engineering), Lochmueller Group (traffic engineering), DTLS (landscape architecture), and Grice Group (architecture). The team expanded on GRG’s earlier community outreach efforts, meeting regularly with community and church groups, hosting open houses, participating in neighborhood trash pickups, holding open-door office hours, and engaging with residents. Three-dimensional models allowed participants — including those with mobility or sensory challenges — to examine and interact with the streetscape design options. The ongoing community relationship has been a hallmark of the Brickline, shaping the final design and fortifying community support.

To create a more complete street, the design shrinks and slows the vehicular nature of Grand Boulevard, a street with wide areas creating highway-like conditions that have led to high speeds and pedestrian fatalities. The plan reduces the vehicle lanes to 40 to 54 feet, expands the public space, and adds a 14-foot-wide shared-use path protected by shade-tree buffers. Additional federal grants expanded the project to improve both sides of the corridor, with new sidewalks, seating areas, lighting and other amenities.

The more human-scale design stimulates street-level commerce, builds community, promotes wellness and encourages more environmentally friendly transportation options. The first phase is fully designed and funded, a 1.3-mile segment slated to start construction in 2025. Phases 2 and 3 are in final design with construction to start in 2026. For a long-underserved area of the city, the Brickline Greenway North Connector is a positive step forward toward building a stronger community and more equitable future.