Fizom OAMFaRTH FovPITIOXN Ueroe7 Te THE MAYER The Arch Grounds Connector The existing conditions of the Connector site presented a host of issues for the design and engineering team to address. The site is dominated by the sounds and smells of the vehicle traffic below in the depressed lanes of Interstate 70. Memorial Drive is also problematic. Pedestrians are required to cross @ minimum of three lanes for each direction of the drive. The most notable features of the crossings are their high curbs, lack of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) ramps, narrow sidewalks and low safety rails. ‘As shown on the aerial photograph on page 6, nearly all of the potential Connector site is owned by the National Park Service, which would therefore have design approval authority over the entire Connector project as well as control of its operations and management. The site includes Luther Ely Smith Square, the one-block park immediately to the west of Memorial Drive, between Market and Chestnut Streets. It should be noted that because the Square lacks the cultural significance of the acreage immediately surrounding the Arch, the National Park Service was willing to consider changes to it in the context of the Connector design process. The design and engineering team assigned to the Connector project developed four alternatives which were presented to the steering committee in July 2008. Three-Block Deck DesignThe most ambitious and dramatic of the four concepts called for a structure consistent with the original vision for the Connector in the 1999 City of St. Louis Downtown Development Action Plan — a three-block deck that would completely cover the depressed lanes of |-70 between Walnut and Pine Streets and relocate el lanes Of Monona Dive 10 Oe sacl This configuration would alow for the creation of small, ground-level plazas adjacent to the Adam's Mark Hotel on the north and the Gateway Tower on the south, which could accommodate restaurants with views of the Arch. By covering the depressed lanes for three blooks, this deck also would suppress the noise and walking between downtown and the Arch grounds or sitting outside at a restaurant, From the beginning, concems about highway tunnel requirements led to doubts that the Three-Block Deck design would be feasible. The Danforth Foundation nevertheless asked the design and engineering team to examine this option for two reasons. First, as noted, this design concept had been a major feature of the 1999 City of St. Louis Downtown Development Action Plan. Second, this approach held the greatest potential for creating activity along Memorial Drive. By enabling the consolidation of the street to the east side of the current right-of- way, this approach would create developable space for new commercial operations by the Adams Mark Hotel and Gateway Tower. This approach was found not to be feasible, however, for these reasons: * Covering the three blocks would result in carbon monoxide levels that, per federal and state highway standards, would require classification of the structure as a tunnel. This classification would, in turn, require the construction of ventilation and extensive homeland security systems.® These systems would require as much as two acres,of land in or near the site. That acreage is currently not available because of National Park Service restrictions. " Jacobs Engineering, Deliverable 2: Summary of Structural Alternatives, Tunnel Considerations and Cost ‘Analysis, Appendix W, pages 41 - 48, 18* Even if the infrastructure issues could be solved, the cost would be extraordinarily high. The construction cost of the three-block deck was estimated at about $87 milion, Annual maintenance costs were estimated ‘at an additional $900,000 meaning that a minimum endowment of $18 milion would need to be raised — public funds are rarely avaliable for maintenance. The total cost was estimated at $106.8 milion (including $1 million in streetscape improvements to Memorial Drive) — a rather staggering sum, especially in the context of a Riverfront still lacking in excitement. The other three Connector designs were alike in featuring a modest one- block deck over I-70 between Market and Chestnut Streets. These three concepts also featured four modernistic pedestrian shelters at the crossings between north- and southbound Memorial Drive. The three concepts differed in their treatments of Luther Ely Smith Square, which is immediately to the west of the site proposed for the deck. One concept would leave the square as it currently exists; one would redesign it; and a third would redesign it and elevate it to the grade of Fourth Street, connecting it to the Arch grounds with a pedestrian bridge. One-Block Deck Option 1