The City of St. Louis has closed public access to the Mississippi River levee between Rootwad Park and the Stan Musial Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. This closure impacts the half-mile segment of the Mississippi Greenway (Riverfront Trail) that passes through this area. The City of St. Louis has agreed to reroute the greenway to the “dry side” of the floodwall to maintain the connection between the downtown St. Louis Riverfront and Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.

The city has paved and striped Commercial Street as part of the new route where it will reconnect to the existing greenway north of the Stan Musial Bridge. Great Rivers Greenway will install wayfinding signage to help greenway users navigate the new route.

The City of St. Louis has taken these steps to address safety concerns raised by local industry. An ongoing issue has been unauthorized vehicles entering this area. Because it is an active levee road, it must remain accessible to vehicular traffic serving industry along the river. This has made it difficult to limit unauthorized vehicles, leading to ongoing reports of unexpected interactions and near misses between cars and bikes. This unlimited access has also lead to criminal activity, primarily during evening hours, putting the property and personnel of the businesses in this area at risk.

We appreciate the city accommodating the needs of greenway users by creating a new route.