Construction starts in June to shrink a five-lane stretch of Natural Bridge Road into one lane each way. It’s part of an ambitious project that aims to transform a partially vacant neighborhood around the University of Missouri-ºüÀêÊÓƵ in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County into a thriving storefront district.
The revamped street will feature a plant-filled median that the designers hope will be as popular with runners, walkers and bikers as Clayton’s Wydown Boulevard.
The design borrows from another area landmark: the water fountain formerly near Euclid and Maryland avenues in the Central West End.
Normandy bought the fountain for $1 and has kept it in storage for several years. Contractors for the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to put the fountain back together and erect it at the “wedge†where Natural Bridge and Florissant roads meet.
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The first section of the revamped Natural Bridge is scheduled to reopen by the end of next year, officials said. That section will be the 1.5 miles from Lucas and Hunt Road to North Hanley Road.
“This is a great day for all us,†ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Charlie Dooley said during a news conference Thursday at UMSL to announce the groundbreaking for the long-discussed revitalization.
Thomas George, UMSL’s chancellor, said the project will transform Natural Bridge and its surrounding neighborhood, making it friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The new Natural Bridge will feature in each direction:
• An 8- to 10-foot-wide sidewalk.
• A 5-foot-wide “tree lawn.â€
• A 6-foot-wide bike path.
• An 11-foot-wide driving lane.
In the center, between the two traffic lanes, will be a 17- to 20-foot-wide median, depressed or raised at various points.
“It will be better than Wydown,†said Betty Van Uum, the UMSL official credited with coming up with the idea for the revitalization. UMSL officials have dubbed the project “University Square.â€
Van Uum said she came up with the concept while looking out her office window at the university.
UMSL officials decided several years ago to take the lead in restoring the area surrounding the university.
“We are like Grand Center,†she said, a reference to the organization that has restored parts of midtown.
The university formed a development corporation with a five-member board that includes Van Uum to oversee the development. It recently hired two employees.
A two-phase redevelopment of Natural Bridge is the first stage of the project. It will cost about $20 million, with the state transportation department overseeing construction and paying most of the cost, officials said.
There is no timetable for the second, which will add nearly a mile to the first phase, Van Uum said.
Other funding sources for the first phase include East-West Gateway Council of Governments ($3 million), Great Rivers Greenway ($500,000), and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County ($450,000), Van Uum said.
Metro, the bistate transit agency, paid $50,000 for a 16-foot-tall sculpture by ºüÀêÊÓƵ artist Catharine Magel. The steel, fiberglass and ceramic sculpture overlooks the UMSL-South MetroLink station.
The sculpture is easily worth $150,000, said David Allen, Metro’s director of arts in transit. It’s the seventh in a series of artworks at Metro stations, said David Allen, Metro’s director of arts in transit. that have cost a total of $450,000, he said.
Officials said the art creates an atmosphere that helps reduce vandalism and other crime.
Federal money paid for the art.
