December 17, 2014
Blazing a new trail Recipes
Easy Chili
Around Town
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Christmas in Old Town
Photo Courtesy Great Rivers Greenway
The Ruth Porter Park Extension in Porter Park is a proposed location for part of the St. Vincent Greenway.
Great Rivers Greenway set to construct new paths to link North County to Forest Park
Feature Section Holiday Shopping Guide
By Sara Hardin With the chill in the air finally settling in, it’s much harder to gather up any motivation to take a morning stroll outside. However, the people with Great Rivers Greenway have a plan to provide a way for trail-lovers to get back into action in the coming years once winter fades away. Great Rivers Greenway is a regional parks and trails district created by a vote of the people to connect St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. They have been working to connect and develop more greenways, which are linear natural or landscaped connectors linking community areas such as parks, trails, residential areas, nature reserves and commercial areas with each other. After spending the better half of a year gathering community feedback about building a new section of trail, Great Rivers Greenway has developed a route for a new, two-mile section that will run through Wellston and Pagedale. The trail is called St. Vincent Greenway, and will make it possible to walk or bike all the way from Forest Park to the University of Missouri – St. Louis Megan Riechmann, Great Rivers Greenway project manager, explained how the community feedback was vital to the construction of the trail plan.
“We were thrilled with the number of people who participated in surveys, open houses and stakeholder meetings. Based on their enthusiasm and feedback, it’s clear that the residents and businesses in Wellston and Pagedale recognize the potential of the greenway to not only become a vibrant community asset, but also spur economic development.” Riechmann explained that speaking with the citizens of the surrounding communities was extremely beneficial to the district being able to formulate a trail plan that served the purposes of the communities as whole. “A lot of them travel, and the opportunity for them to be able to go from their house to the facilities the trail connects with, or to be able to use the greenway for transportation within their communities was something that was really exciting to them.” The St. Vincent Greenway will connect two regional parks, six other greenways, seven Metrolink Stations, the campus of University of Missouri – St. Louis and multiple mixed-use developments. “Now that we understand what the community wants, and the route we have to work with, we can begin design in 2015,” says Riechmann.
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Riechmann says that Great Rivers Greenway is currently looking at a 2017 construction schedule for the trail, which could be subject to change depending on the time it takes to acquire property and figure out all of the trail’s expenses. She explained that once the trail is completed, the connectivity it will provide will be immensely beneficial to the surrounding communities. “There are immense recreational See BLAZING A NEW TRAIL page 2
School
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Hazelwood Educators Honored
“Foxcatcher” photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
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