Excerpt from article featured in the St. Louis Business Journal
PROJECT OF THE YEAR: Gateway Arch project opened access to a landmark and got a community to work together
For decades, an interstate divided St. Louis from its front door.
The man-made barrier of Memorial Drive and Interstate 70 (now I-44) separated the Gateway Arch grounds from the rest of downtown.
In the years since the Arch first opened in 1965, the city struggled to leverage its national landmark. The Gateway Arch, built on the banks of the Mississippi River, soared over the city but lacked accessibility.
A five-year, $380 million renovation of the Arch completed last year changed all that, and much more.
The public-private project — the largest in the National Park Service history — brought forth an unprecedented sense of civic pride, engagement and excitement. And in reconnecting a landmark to the rest of the city, it also brought the city’s competitive development and construction industry together.
