ST. LOUIS — A newly awarded federal grant of $9.9 million will cover half the cost of a pedestrian-bicycling bridge at Highway 40 (Interstate 64) near the ºüÀêÊÓƵ University campus.
The bridge will be part of the planned $245 million Brickline Greenway project connecting four major city parks. The span will go between the decks of the highway near Spring Avenue, below the westbound lanes and above the eastbound lanes.
The grant, issued to the regional Great Rivers Greenway, was part of $3.3 billion in new project funding across the country by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
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The bridge will allow access by pedestrians, bicyclists and others to the Grand MetroLink station and nearby areas. That part of the trail will connect with a separate Brickline Greenway project connecting the Grand station to the Cortex MetroLink station to the west.
“This greenway bridge will be the hub where the north, south, east and west Brickline Greenway routes come together,†said Susan Trautman, Great Rivers’ CEO.
The other half of the bridge project will be covered by a mix of Great Rivers tax funds and private donations, said Great Rivers spokeswoman Emma Klues.
Klues said about $108 million of the $245 million needed for the overall Brickline project has now been committed.
She said that includes $40 million in private donations, $15 million in Greenway funds and $53 million from other governmental sources.
The plan calls for the overall Brickline Trail to eventually connect Forest, Tower Grove and Fairground parks and the Gateway Arch grounds. Backers say the goal is to help break down racial barriers and bring economic development to areas along the trail.
The federal transportation grants announced Wednesday are part of a Biden administration program aimed at disadvantaged areas. They are funded in part by the infrastructure aid plan passed by Congress in 2021 and another spending bill passed in 2022.