The Irony of St. Louis’ Forest Park

To reach miles of exceptional walking paths, you often have to drive

This month I moved my family from New York City to St. Louis for an Incredible opportunity in my wife’s career. So far we’re loving our new home. St. Louis offers so much for an urbanist/transit/construction nerd to love; historic neighborhoods with lovely walking amenities, a growing bike-lane network and biking culture, and a respectable public transit system—albeit with limited reach. This is the first, of hopefully a few, posts as I explore my new home.

---

On the cusp of celebrating its 150th birthday, St. Louis' Forest Park remains a sterling example of what the best urban parks can offer. Forest Park has a storied history, having hosted both the 1904 World’s Fair and Summer Olympics. Spanning over 1,300 acres, it is 60% larger than New York City’s Central Park and ranks among the largest urban parks in the country. It houses five major institutions—including the Missouri History Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Saint Louis Zoo—as well as an amphitheater, three public golf courses, two tennis facilities, and over 30 miles of bike and pedestrian paths. Tourists may come to St. Louis to visit the Arch, but locals know Forest Park is the city’s true crown jewel. The irony of Forest Park is a word class urban park but is walled in by difficult-to-traverse roads on all sides. Forest Park’s benefits shouldn’t stop at its borders, they should extend into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Saint Louis Art Museam in the center of Forest Park

Forest Park is bordered on all sides by lovely, historic neighborhoods, most of them walkable, dense, and urban. It’s the kind of amenity that makes these communities desirable and livable. Yet, like many destinations in Midwestern cities, the park is primarily accessed by car. Visitors from across the region drive in and park within the park to enjoy its offerings. While the internal paths are expansive and welcoming, they’re nearly inaccessible from the park’s edges. On the east side, Forest Park Parkway—a four-lane road in both directions—serves as a major north-south artery. Pedestrians hoping to walk from the Central West End must cross nearly ten lanes of traffic, with minimal protection and virtually nonexistent crosswalks or signals. In speaking with local representatives, it’s clear this is a well-known issue.

Hardly a fitting pedestrian entrance to a world-class park

Fortunately, the solutions are rather easy. Here are three practical ways to better integrate Forest Park into the surrounding community:

1. Adjust traffic signal timing to protect pedestrians.
Kingshighway is designed for cars first, pedestrians second. This is evident in the signal timing: protected turns are allowed in nearly every direction, while pedestrians get just 38 seconds to cross a 135-foot-wide road. According to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, a walking speed of 3.5 feet per second is standard for timing calculations. While this intersection technically meets that threshold, it still forces pedestrians to share space with fast-moving vehicles in a high-volume corridor. Extending pedestrian crossing time and adding protected intervals would ensure that Forest Park’s accessibility doesn’t end at the curb.

2. Implement daylighting to shorten crossing distances.
A simple way to improve safety is to reduce the distance pedestrians must travel. Implementing daylighting would remove curbside parking near intersections and allow sidewalks to extend into the street by one lane in each direction, shortening the crossing by up to 20 feet. These lanes are currently used for parking and their removal wouldn’t affect traffic flow. On the southeast corner, where a fire hydrant already prohibits parking, daylighting would also help prevent illegal stops and improve visibility.

Daylighting and refreshed high-vis crosswalks would greatly improve pedestrain safety and improve the park-going experience

3. Refresh crosswalks with high-visibility paint.
Sometimes the simplest fix is the most effective. The current crosswalk markings are faded and inadequate. Drivers often roll through them not out of malice, but because they’re hard to see. A fresh coat of high-visibility paint would dramatically improve safety and signal pedestrian priority.

Forest Park is a masterpiece of civic design and still serves as a the community anchor it was designed as a century and a half ago. This is not meant as a baseles critique of my new home but the only way I know to show I care. Forest Park is a world-class park and should be easily accesible by all St Lousians. My wife and I chose this neighborhood in no small part because of its proximity to this extraordinary park, and we’re grateful every day. In the two weeks since we arrived, we’ve visited Forest Park daily. I plan to explore every corner, and I plan to get there on foot.