04.21.2009 12:19 pm
Jogging trail tunnel opens in Forest Park
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Users of the Forest Park jogging and bicycling trail no longer have to fear traffic when crossing at Hampton Avenue. Today, a tunnel opened that takes the trail beneath the road, eliminating the battle between drivers and pedestrians at what had been one of the park’s most dangerous intersections.
The underpass is part of Highway 40 reconstruction. Rebuilding the Hampton Avenue overpass required reconfiguring the intersection at Hampton and Wells avenues, and this led to the construction of the underpass. It was developed by the Missouri Department of Transportation and Gateway Constructors, in cooperation with Forest Park Forever and the St. Louis Parks Department.
Great! A new place for bums and indigents to harass passers-by.
TGCat wrote:
As a regular Forest Park runner, I am thrilled with the addition of the tunnel for safety to runners, walkers, and cyclists at that dangerous intersection. Those who are commenting on unsafe conditions in the park, obviously need to go for a visit and see for themselves. It is safe and a beautiful place to be.
Great, now joggers and pedestrians can be mugged with little chance of it being witnessed.
Could we have some pics of the new tunnel? Its kind of a hard place to drive by right now.
I think this is great and am happy it was part of the Hwy 40 redo. Prior to the Hwy 40 mess, I would go through this intersection as part of my commute. Hardly a day would pass when someone turning was not yielding to bikers, runners, or rollerbladers in the crosswalk.
Congratulations to the city of St. Louis for a solution that is more dangerous to bikers and joggers. How much will it cost the city to provide security in the evening?
Any idea what it cost to build this new rerouting and construction? Did anyone do a cost-benefit analysis for it? If this project had to be paid for directly from the pockets of all users, would they have paid for it? I truly doubt it.
I feel the same way about sound barriers on the new I-64. Why are our tax dollars being used for some people to not have to hear the highway? Let them pay for the barriers. Almost all of those properties owners lived there after the highway was built in the 1960’s, so they knew what they were getting into back then. Otherwise, how about putting a berm and landscape my yard for free as well, to be fair?
I realize that many people seem to cross at that intersection when I jogged there, but simply some no right turn on red signs may have helped significantly for the safety of users, but I’m not sure if it’s no right turn on red at that intersection.
Wow! Looks like the tunnel has attracted a few trolls.
this is great. i’m a big fan of the underpass by the mounted police station. i used that tunnel everyday when i was at forest park community college. this tunnel is 10000000000000x better then that one. it’s much much wider, not as long and will defiantly be HEAVILY used. not by bums, but by people jogging and biking.
I lived on the the Hill for a decade, from 1998-2008. I used the bike paths at F. Park daily during the riding season, and always felt that intersection was a disaster waiting to happen, especially during rush hour.
This will not only be a safer route for those exercising, but it will subtract another stressor on vehicular traffic moving across Hampton into and out of the park. Not only will joggers and cyclists benefit, but the more efficient flow of traffic will benefit drivers.
In addition, the cycling/jogging path is used by those walking to and from the Zoo and Science Center, and during heavy-use times, like the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, and other busy events.
The purpose of the highway 40 project was been to alleviate congestion, and this is another improvement to meet that goal.