Politics & Government

Great Rivers Greenway Offers First Look at Proposed West County Trail

The proposed 15-mile paved path is still in the initial stages, but it would eventually link Chesterfield, Babler State Park, Rockwoods Reservation and Wildwood together.

At an open house Tuesday, the Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) shared their preliminary plans to create a 15-mile, paved, multi-use path that will connect the Monarch Levee Trail in Chesterfield to the Al Foster Memorial Trail in southeast Wildwood.

Called the Western Greenway, it’s still in the initial stages, so representatives from GRG said their goal for this year is to gather feedback from the public about what they would like the trail to look like and what amenities should be priorities.

“We want the trails we create to reflect the desire and needs of where they are,” said Lonny Boring, GRG project manager.

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It’s not the biggest of the 17 different projects the governmental agency is working on, but Boring said it is one of the most important because it would connect the Missouri River and Meramec River greenways.

The end result would mean that a cyclist could start out his day at the trailhead for the Levee Trail behind the new Taubman Prestige Outlets in Chesterfield and then ride through the various parks to reach the Al Foster Memorial Trail in Wildwood, which runs along the Meramec River.

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GRG was created by vote in 2000 and is charged with creating a network of trails in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Eventually, the goal is to have an interconnected ring of continuous trails that circle the entire St. Louis Metro area.

Wildwood resident Sally Allen was one of several citizens who slowly filtered through the open house at Wildwood City hall. She frequently takes walk with her dog Isabell and said she was “thrilled” by the proposal.

“It makes sense and it’s forward thinking,” she said.

Visitors like Allen were asked to fill out a survey of what they would like to see and another open house is planned for August. Boring said they hope to have finished collecting public feedback by the end of the year.

Boring added that it is too earlier at this point to predict when construction on the trail might begin or to project an estimated cost, but said the goal is to shift into the planning phase in 2014. 


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