The National Park Service has chosen a vision for reshaping the
Gateway Arch grounds that could include closing part of Memorial Drive to
traffic, expanding the underground museum and taking in extra land on both
sides of the Mississippi River.

In its release today of a 298-page "general management plan," the Park Service
announces its direction for future development of the Jefferson National
Expansion Memorial, the 91-acre riverfront park that includes the Arch and the
Old Courthouse. The document is the result of more than a year of study and
public hearings.

The next big step would be for the Park Service to sponsor an international
design competition similar to one in 1947 that led to Eero Saarinen’s winning
design of the Arch, the region’s reigning symbol. A jury of independent
specialists would recommend a choice, and the Park Service would select one.
Then Congress and local sources would have to find money.

The document still needs signatures of Park Service officials after a 30-day
wait, but that action is considered routine.

The plan estimates it would cost about $305 million to complete what is in the
plan, but warns that detailed design could boost the sticker significantly.
That for an Arch and Expansion Memorial that cost about $35 million. The final
piece of the Arch was hoisted into place in a ceremony on Oct. 28, 1965,
although the grand staircase wasn’t completed until 2003.

Central to the new plan is solving an old frustration among locals and tourists
— the hassle of walking from downtown to the Arch grounds. For decades, people
have talked about building pedestrian bridges, closing streets or putting a lid
over the Interstate 70 "depressed lanes." None have materialized.

The plan suggests closing as many as three blocks of Memorial Drive at Market
Street, a busy intersection for daily commuters, tourists and baseball fans.
Sandra Washington, a Park Service regional official and project manager for the
plan, said preliminary traffic studies suggest it wouldn’t cause gridlock.

"We consider it an interesting option worth looking at," Washington said.

DANFORTH SPURS TALKS FOR ARCH REDEVELOPMENT

The study was spurred by former Sen. John Danforth, who in August 2007 urged
regional and national leaders to "think big" in transforming the grounds with
easier access and more activities, possibly include cafes, bike rentals, an
aquarium or an amphitheater.

The Park Service was cool to the idea at first, but later announced its
intention to eventually seek a design competition. It held public hearings
earlier this year.

Danforth once offered $50 million from the Danforth Foundation to help
underwrite a sufficiently ambitious plan. But in April, he said the Park
Service planning fell "far short" and withdrew from the effort. On Thursday, a
spokesman reiterated that statement, adding, "We wish all those concerned the
best." He said Danforth had not seen the new document.

Expansion Memorial superintendent Tom Bradley said Thursday the review "gave us
all a chance to step back and go through a methodical process. Everybody wants
something that can actually happen, not have a big plan on a shelf... We want
to make the park more relevant to today’s society, yet true to the reasons for

which it has been protected."

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