Historical April–May 2005 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Metro engineers and architects have quietly concluded that the unique combination of dirt, clay, and the presence of underground water at the northern end of Forest Park, make it highly unlikely that the Forest Park Expressway will ever re-built.
It turns out that the soil texture, coupled with the churning River Des Peres underneath the surface, is such that the land is now highly susceptible to erosion and movement.
In fact, this same soil texture, called ‘loam’ accounts for the numerous vacant lots along Des Peres Avenue, from the expressway to Kingsbury Avenue. Years ago each of these locations was the site of a multi-family dwelling, but the soil was not strong enough to support the structures and they collapsed. Similarly, engineers say, the trenches built for the MetroLink have caused the river to expand beneath the surface and, as a result, the soil in this area is even more likely to shift and move. Given these conditions, the Forest Park Expressway would be unsafe and would probably collapse within a few years.
This conclusion isn’t definite yet. More tests remain and Metro officials say that they are hopeful that the expressway can be rebuilt.
However, we have also learned that Metro has spent over $20,000 for design drawings to show how the area that was to be the location of the expressway can be landscaped in an attractive manner and used for recreation. One of the Metro consultants went so far as to call the area where the expressway used to be ‘a Forest Park annex.’ Initial drawings of this area show it heavily landscaped and tree-lined, with four tennis courts (oriented east to west), and a picnic area located where the expressway used to intersect Rosedale Avenue.
The board of the Times of Skinker DeBaliviere is, of course, opposed to a permanent removal of the expressway.
While we enjoy tennis as much as the next person, we recognize how the absence of the expressway makes life more inconvenient for those of us who live here. And yet if rebuilding the expressway is unsafe, we don’t want that either. Therefore, if the expressway is to be closed, our official position is that everyone living in the neighborhood be given free cab service between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day of the work week.
We ask that you write your alderperson and congressman, respectively the Honorables Lyda Krewson and Lacy Clay, to support this effort. Did that get your attention? Have you recognized that this is an April Fool’s article? Did we getcha? No, there are no plans to permanently close the expressway. At least we don’t think that’s the case… (This article was submitted by that intrepid Times reporter Hawkeye Hoerr.)
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2005.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2005_04.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
