In August of 1876, voters in the St. Louis region narrowly decided to separate the city from the county, and this division has arguably been as elemental to the region as Provel cheese on pizza or Cardinal red on a baseball jersey. Many incredible neighborhoods and destina - tions developed across both the city and county boundaries, said Todd Antoine, chief of planning and projects with Great Rivers Greenway ( greatriversgreenway.org ), but they did so as a “collection of islands.” Antoine grew up in Chesterfield, about 25 min - utes west of downtown St. Louis. On Great Rivers Greenway’s project map, green dots indicate that Chesterfield will one day be directly connected to downtown St. Louis by multiuse trails, building upon the 128 miles that are already linking many of those neighborhoods together. Since 2000, when voters in the city of St. Louis, as well as in St. Louis and St. Charles coun - ties, collectively approved a sales tax dedicated to trails and parks, Great Rivers Greenway has grown into one of the country’s major trail-system stewards. The organization employs 31 people, Antoine said, and the staff works with hundreds of partners across the area to improve and expand a trail network that users say is central to how they now define St. Louis. “Without the greenway network, this city wouldn’t be what it is,” said Taylor March, pro - grams director of Trailnet ( trailnet.org ), a promi - nent St. Louis bike-ped advocacy nonprofit. March was on a mid-July weekend ride with his 4-year-old Marcella when he spotted Antoine walking with me on part of Grant’s Trail ( rtc.li/gravois-grants-trail ), a 12-mile segment of the network that was a 2022 nominee for the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame ( railstotrails.org/ halloffame ). “It’s really, really important that Great Rivers Greenway is in existence and has the funding that they do to build up that network. It is our all-ages and all-abilities network, and it’s the place where we can come ride, and she’s gonna feel safe.”
“It is our
all-ages and all-abilities network, and it's the place where we can come ride, and [my 4-year-old daughter] is gonna feel safe.” Taylor March, Programs Director, Trailnet
St. Louis’ Burgeoning River Ring Trail Network Is Reconnecting People and Neighborhoods, Creating New Economic
600 MILES Eventual total length of the Great Rivers Greenway trail network 45 No. of total envisioned, connected trails along the Great Rivers Greenway network
Opportunities and Reviving the City’s Forgotten History
BY CORY MATTESON
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FALL 2022 RAILS TO TRAILS
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