ST. LOUIS — More than a year after two high-profile deaths outside of an iconic frozen custard stand, city officials still haven’t upgraded the streets to better protect pedestrians, as promised.
There are no bollards reinforcing the fencing in front of the Ted Drewes stand on Chippewa Street, or bump-outs on the curb, or medians for pedestrians to take refuge. The nearest crosswalk is still down the street at Jamieson Avenue. And in the meantime, at least one other pedestrian has been hit and injured.
“I’ve lost sleep over it,†said Ted Drewes owner Travis Dillon. “I wish I could fix it myself. But I’m not sure how we can make the city go faster.â€
City leaders say they are moving as quickly as they can. It took a while to find money for the improvements. Aldermen had to appropriate federal pandemic aid to pay for a new crosswalk with flashing signals. And a decision to install everything at once meant officials had to wait for more design work that delayed construction further.
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Alderman Tom Oldenburg, whose ward includes Ted Drewes, said the city should be ready to solicit bids on the project early next year, a year later than he first pledged.
If all goes according to plan, construction could begin in June.
“It is absolutely still a priority,†Oldenburg said.
Ted Drewes has been bringing crowds to historic Route 66 near the city’s southwestern border since 1941. And while over the years it has added dozens of parking spaces next to its stand, peak summer crowds overflow the lot and side streets. Many customers park at businesses across the street and walk across five-lane Chippewa to buy their concretes.
For decades, it wasn’t a problem. Dillon, the owner, has been working at the stand for more than 40 years and can’t recall anyone getting hit badly in the street until recently.
Then two deaths last year made headlines.
On May 14, 2022, a driver hit and killed Edward Walter, a retired Washington University Medical School librarian, as he was walking over with a friend from out of town.
Two months later, a driver in a pickup truck hit high school student Matthew Nikolai as he was walking toward the stand, sending him tumbling into an eastbound lane, where he was hit again.
Officials promised swift action.
There were calls for additional police presence on busy nights. Oldenburg scheduled a meeting with the city traffic commissioner. Days later, he told the Post-Dispatch that bollards would soon be installed in front of the stand to protect people standing in line and that a median and a crosswalk in front of the stand were coming within six months.
“As far as city government goes, that’s not bad,†he said.
But it didn’t happen that way.
Oldenburg only had enough ward capital money to cover the smaller improvements, like bollards and sidewalk bump-outs.
It wasn’t until this year that city officials designated federal cash to cover the second phase with the crosswalk and signals.
And when they found the money for the latter piece, officials decided it made the most sense to do the whole project at once. And that meant waiting for the crosswalk piece to be studied and designed.
Oldenburg said staff at the Board of Public Service made the call, but he agreed. The first phase didn’t really address traffic on Chippewa by itself, he said.
Still, the delay has angered some.
One of Oldenburg’s constituents confronted him at a recent neighborhood meeting. The man told Oldenburg he wanted to commend him for all that the city had done to make Chippewa safer. Then he paused and delivered the punchline: “Nothing!â€
Vivion McKune, who works in the area and has been going to Ted Drewes for much of her life, said the drivers aren’t getting any better.
“They don’t stop to think, ‘There could be a child crossing this street,’†she said. “They don’t think, ‘This is a business.’â€
Lynn Tucker, who drove down to the stand from west ºüÀêÊÓƵ County on Wednesday, was baffled by the delay.
“It shouldn’t take this long,†she said. “Where’s the crosswalk?â€
Dillon, the owner, said he understood the logic behind the delay. But it didn’t make him feel any better.
“The more I think about it,†he said, “the more sleep I lose.â€