The Brickline Greenway is about to feel a lot less like a sketch on a planning map and a lot more like a construction zone. This spring, crews are rolling into new corners of St. Louis, tearing up parts of North Grand and a few downtown stretches to carve out continuous space for walking and biking, add murals, and make it easier to reach transit. Neighbors can expect to see barricades, detours and ribbon-cuttings on two short segments as the agency tries to stitch the route into existing parks and city streets. City officials and designers say the big-picture goal is to reconnect neighborhoods long split by highways and to make everyday trips safer for people traveling without a car.
Project overview
The Brickline is planned as a roughly 10-mile public-private greenway that would link four major parks and 14 St. Louis neighborhoods, according to Great Rivers Greenway. The agency puts the price tag at about $245 million, with a target of 2030 to finish the full network. The money is expected to come from a mix of local sales-tax revenue, federal and state grants, and private philanthropy.
North connector under way
Construction is already rolling on the 1.3-mile north connector, which will run from Fairground Park south along Grand Boulevard to Page and then west to Spring. The reworked corridor is meant to slow traffic and carve out more protected space for people walking and biking. The project includes reconfigured roadway lanes, wider sidewalks and new crosswalks, after a study found hundreds of crashes along the stretch, and officials say the changes should significantly improve safety, St. Louis Public Radio reported. "It’s a total overhaul - we’re going to have to rebuild everything," Great Rivers Greenway CEO Susan Trautman told St. Louis Public Radio.
What's opening and when
Two short pieces of the Brickline already have dates circled on the calendar. The Market Street segment from 22nd Street to Compton is slated for an official opening on April 13, 2026, at Harris-Stowe State University, and the Spring Avenue stretch between Page Boulevard and Lindell is scheduled to kick off with an event on May 1, 2026, according to FOX2. Emma Klues, vice president of communications at Great Rivers Greenway, told FOX2 the north connector "will start at Fairground Park and come down on Grand to Cass and over to Spring," an alignment designed to link nearby neighborhoods to Saint Louis University and City Foundry. The Market Street piece ties directly into recent work around Energizer Park, creating a more walkable route into the stadium district.
Public art and community ties
Art is baked into the plan, not tacked on at the end. Great Rivers Greenway has already installed the Pillars of the Valley and other public artworks along the route, and partners are lining up murals and youth-led projects meant to honor local history while serving as visible anchors for surrounding blocks, the agency says. The art program includes collaborations with local arts organizations and apprenticeship efforts that aim to put residents to work on the greenway and give them a say in how murals, sculptures and streetscape upgrades show up in their neighborhoods, according to Great Rivers Greenway.
Funding and timeline
Officials estimate the full Brickline program at roughly $245 million and say it is already more than halfway funded, with local tax dollars, federal grants and philanthropic contributions helping fill the budget, St. Louis Public Radio reported. Agency leaders still point to 2030 as the goal for completing the entire 10-mile network, although sections like the Market Street and Spring Avenue segments will open earlier as construction wraps up.
Why it matters for neighborhoods
Planners and neighborhood advocates say the greenway is about more than joggers and cyclists. They argue it could make it easier for residents to reach parks, transit stops and jobs while dialing down dangerous traffic on busy streets. At the same time, they caution that the benefits need to reach current residents, not just future developers, and say protections against displacement have to travel alongside the new pavement and plantings. Local groups and a newly forming Brickline North Community Development Corporation are intended to steer investment and job opportunities into the surrounding neighborhoods, echoing connectivity and equity goals raised by mobility advocates like Trailnet.
