A Boulevard and a Lid for the Arch Grounds: Here’s How

To some, capping I-70 with a "lid" at the point the Gateway Mall intersects the Arch grounds, and the replacement of I-70 with a boulevard appear to be mutually exclusive. Capping the highway and possibly closing Memorial Drive at the Gateway Mall has been the conventional wisdom in improving Arch grounds connections for more than a decade. Re-envisioning the Arch grounds and Gateway Mall has never really stopped. Since the idea was first put to paper more than three quarters of a century ago, countless individuals and dozens of civic leaders have envisioned how to complete or improve both.

I continue to believe that an at-grade boulevard in place of I-70 from the Poplar Street Bridge to Cass Avenue is the best, most transformative, least expensive, most straightforward design for the Memorial Drive/I-70 corridor. The idea of walking unimpeded from Luther Ely Smith Square to the Arch grounds is inherently attractive. But I think it raises at least as many questions as it answers.