Historical February–March 2001 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The extension of MetroLink along Forest Park Parkway continues to be a source of controversy in Skinker-DeBaliviere and surrounding neighborhoods.
On December 15th, Bi-State’s Board of Directors approved a plan to build the light rail tracks along the south side of Forest Park Parkway east of Skinker Blvd. Under the new plan, the tracks will go underground on a diagonal at Skinker and come above ground on the north side of Millbrook west of Hoyt Drive in University City. Previous plans called for the tracks to run down the middle of the Parkway.
To make the “south-running alignment” possible between DeBaliviere and Skinker, Bi-State will need to acquire approximately 24 feet of the 40 foot wide easement between Forest Park Parkway and the properties facing towards Lindell.
This land is owned by the Catlin Tract trustees.
With the change to a south-running alignment in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood, Des Peres will be closed to automobile traffic south of the intersection with Forest Park Parkway. Cars going south on Des Peres will be able to turn east or west on to the Parkway, but will be unable to continue south towards Lindell, creating a threeway “T intersection” rather than a traditional four-way intersection. Because cars will no longer cross the light rail tracks at Des Peres, MetroLink drivers will not need to sound a horn at this intersection.
The south running alignment will preserve the planted median in the parkway, and also means that cars coming east on the parkway will still be able to turn left into the neighborhood at Des Peres. Both the left turns and the median would likely have been eliminated with the center-running alignment.
While many neighbors continue to believe that placing the tracks underground at Des Peres would be the best for the neighborhood, most see the side-running alignment as an improvement over the previous plan.
When the change to a south-running alignment was approved, Bi-State also agreed to allow for pedestrian access across the light rail tracks at Des Peres.
On February 8th, Bi-State held a meeting at Crossroads School to solicit neighborhood input on how best to preserve pedestrian access to Lindell and Forest Park at Des Peres. Bi-State presented preliminary designs for four possible configurations of the intersection.
The first was a “do nothing” approach for comparison purposes which eliminates pedestrian access.
The second option was an overpass.
The overpass would include a series of handicapped accessible ramps and would begin just south of the intersection of Pershing and Des Peres.
The overpass would cross over the alley behind Pershing, the Parkway, and the light rail tracks.
The third option presented was an underpass, which would also cross both the Parkway and the MetroLink tracks.
The fourth option was an at-grade crossing. Under this option. pedestrians would cross the parkway as they do now and come to an opening which would allow them to cross the light rail tracks.
After these options were presented, neighbors were invited to make comments and ask questions about the proposals. Although BI-State officials noted that the underpass would include security cameras, a number of residents expressed serious concerns about possible safety risks with the underpass.
Some of the residents in attendance objected to the overpass, believing that It would be unsightly or obtrusive.
Finally, some residents expressed concerns about the safety of people crossing the MetroLink tracks on foot. BiState officials noted that a similar atgrade crossing currently exists downtown near Busch Stadium and has been used by many people daily without incident. At the conclusion of the meeting, those in attendance were asked to evaluate each of the four options on four different criteria: safety, convenience, neighborhood context, and aesthetics_ On February 13th, the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council passed a resolution affirming Its support for placing the MetroLink tracks underneath DesPeres. However. among the options presented by BiState at the February 8th meeting, the Community Council expressed a preference for a combination of an overpass and an at-grade crossing to give pedestrians multiple ways of accessing Lindell and Forest Park. Bi-State’s final decision on the type of pedestrian crossing at Des Peres is still pending_ Neighborhood residents will have their next opportunity to provide input on this and other issues related to MetroLink at a design charette scheduled for March 28th.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2001.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2001_02.pdf, printed page(s) 1, 12; PDF page(s) 1, 12.
