Forest Park Parkway is a parkway in Clayton, Missouri and St. Louis that runs from Interstate 170, becomes Forest Park Avenue at Kingshighway Boulevard, and ends at Market Street and Interstate 64. It is considered an arterial snow route. Its right-of-way has carried various railroad lines throughout much of its history.
History
The corridor began life in the 19th century as a heavy rail line used by the Rock Island and Wabash railroads along with local streetcars. The segment between the Terminal Railroad's Central Belt Subdivision (near present day Interstate 170) and Forsyth Junction (now the junction of MetroLink's Red and Blue lines) was abandoned by the Rock Island in 1931. Prior to its abandonment, the railroad operated a passenger depot at Clayton, near the spot of today's MetroLink station. In the 1940s, before the suspension of streetcar service in the St. Louis area, the portion of this corridor between Pershing and DeBaliviere avenues carried the #1 Kirkwood and the #14 University-Clayton streetcar lines. Service on the Kirkwood line ended in 1950 with service on the University-Clayton line ending in 1963. The Wabash Railroad continued to operate freight service east and north of Forsyth Junction until 1988.
Millbrook Boulevard was built in a portion of the abandoned Rock Island right-of-way and in 1959, construction began on Forest Park Parkway, an urban renewal project which saw Millbrook renamed and extended from Skinker Boulevard to Kingshighway. Here, the Parkway meets Forest Park Avenue which runs east to its present terminus at Market Street and Compton Avenue at Interstate 64 in Midtown St. Louis.
In 2017, the city of St. Louis and BJC Healthcare opened a reconstructed at-grade intersection between Forest Park Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard. Previously, Forest Park Avenue dipped below-grade and passed beneath Kingshighway as it became Forest Park Parkway. Currently, the intersection with Grand Boulevard still has this underpass feature as motorists enter and exit I-64.
MetroLink
Airport/Central Corridor
In 1993, MetroLink's initial route opened between St. Louis Lambert International Airport and East St. Louis, Illinois. Roughly of the abandoned Wabash right-of-way between Normandy in North St. Louis County and Grand Boulevard in St. Louis were reused. The Forest Park-DeBaliviere station was built at the former Forsyth Junction, where the Rock Island and Wabash railroads once met.
Cross County Extension
In June 1999, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments released conceptual designs for the Cross County MetroLink extension including at-grade, below-grade and elevated portions. Initially, trains were to run at-grade in the median of Forest Park Parkway with stations between Forest Park and Clayton. After considering feedback from local residents, Metro opted to move this segment into cuts and subway tunnels along the former streetcar right-of-way and place the Skinker and University City-Big Bend stations underground. These changes were finalized in 2002 but led to delays and cost overruns on the extension. However, construction began in 2003 and the extension opened on August 26, 2006.
Major intersections and stations CountyLocationmikmDestination / IntersectionNotesCity of St. Louis0.000.00Market Street/Interstate 64Beginning of Forest Park Avenue0.60.96Vandeventer Ave2.03.21Kingshighway Blvd Western terminus of avenue, start of parkway2.64.18Lindell/Union BlvdEastbound entrance and exit, westbound exit3.25.14DeBaliviere Ave4.16.59Skinker BlvdSt. Louis CountyUniversity City4.87.72Big Bend Blvd5.28.36Pershing AveNo access for eastbound traffic6.29.97Bemiston Ave (Shaw Park Drive)Eastbound entrance and westbound exitClayton6.310.13Central Ave (Government Center)Eastbound exit and westbound entrance6.410.29Brentwood Blvd6.810.94Interstate 170Western terminus StationLocationServiceTypePoints of interestForest Park–DeBaliviere 250 DeBaliviere Avenue Below-gradeForest Park, Loop Trolley, Missouri History Museum, The MunySkinker 260 North Skinker BoulevardUndergroundDelmar Loop, Forest Park, Saint Louis Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis University City–Big Bend 7000 Forest Park ParkwayUndergroundFontbonne University, University City, Washington University in St. LouisForsyth 7411 Forsyth BoulevardBelow-gradeCarondelet Plaza, Downtown Clayton, University CityClayton 275 South Central AvenueAt-gradeDowntown Clayton, Shaw Park, St. Louis County Government Center
References