CLAYTON • The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership on Wednesday voted to accept a $4 million federal grant to redesign a heavily traveled interchange in Creve Coeur that it says is key to the development of the 39 North plant science district.
The grant will pay to redesign and construct a “folded diamond†interchange at Olive and Lindbergh boulevards in the middle of the district. St. Louis County plans to offer a $1 million local match, but the Partnership will run procurement and other aspects of the project.
“We do the management, but they make the rules,†said Janet Wilding, who heads the 39 North project for the Partnership.
The Partnership’s plan for the area envisions a sort of agriculture and plant science tech district anchored by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Monsanto’s corporate headquarters. It hopes to build trails and pedestrian connections through the area, which would connect its Helix Center biotech incubator with other assets in the area.
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The Partnership has worked to install branding signage along Olive Boulevard and has also sponsored Venture Café meetings at the Danforth Center and other spots in 39 North. Venture Cafe has sponsored networking happy hours for entrepreneurs in Cortex, the Central West End tech hub, but the Partnership has worked to draw them to 39 North to hold events in the agriculture tech hub.
In addition to programming, redesigning the interchange in the center of the area, which currently restricts access from some directions, has been a top priority of the Partnership’s 39 North master plan.
“If you were to ask the businesses, I think historically this has been a constraint in the area, it has been a limiting factor,†said Jason Jaggi, Creve Coeur director of community development. “Improving connectivity benefits all businesses in that area.â€
The redesigned interchange will be one of the first major infrastructure projects in the plant science district.
The project will remove the two clover leafs north of Olive Boulevard and reconfigure the intersection so traffic can access all directions of Lindbergh and Olive boulevards. Currently, Old Olive Street Road, a side street, acts as a part of the intersection. Westbound traffic on Olive Boulevard must use Old Olive Street Road to access northbound Lindbergh Boulevard.
In March, the Partnership approved spending up to $475,000, mostly from the county, to hire Clayton-based Christner to come up with a plan and design to “transform†Old Olive Road, the smaller street that runs just to the north of busy Olive Boulevard into what it calls “kind of a main street concept.â€
It also received $400,000 in early 2017 from Great Rivers Greenway, which plans the region’s trail infrastructure, to develop a plan and design for a pedestrian connector from the 39 North district to the planned route of the Centennial Greenway north of the district. The Partnership voted in March to award the planning contract to Creve Coeur-based Reitz & Jens.
The Missouri Department of Transportation said it issued its notice awarding the federal funding for St. Louis County to use on the project in September.
“It’s time to accept the $5 million,†Wilding told the Partnership board on Wednesday, which approved the resolutions related to the project. Those included a $1 million contract with Access Engineering of south St. Louis County to design the interchange project and inspect construction.
Asked about the timing of accepting the award, she said the federal government’s regulations “have you procure it first before they move the money.â€
Through the grant, $600,000 will be available for engineering work in 2019 and the remainder is available for construction the following year.