Gateway Arch National Park, St. Louis, Missouri

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The Gateway Arch National Park, formerly known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is located near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Gateway Arch National Park was designed to represent the role the city played in the United States expanding west in the 19th century. Specifically, it was a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, the pioneers, and Dred Scott. The park consists of the Gateway Arch, a 91-acre park along the Mississippi River, the Old Courthouse, and a 140,000 square-foot museum. The site was originally designated as a national memorial in 1935, but redesignated as a national park in 2018. The park is maintained by the National Park Service. The Gateway Arch was completed in 1965 and at 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide, stands as the tallest structure in Missouri. The stainless-steel arch was designed and constructed as an urban renewal project that led to the loss of a colonial-era street grid, among hundreds of historic buildings. Upon completion, the Arch was quickly cut off from the rest of the city by the heavily traveled I-44. Visitors can explore the arch on numerous levels: underground in the park's subterranean visitor center, above ground on the banks of the Mississippi, and high in the air from the viewing deck at the top of the Arch, accessed by a short tram ride inside the legs of the structure. In 2009, the CityArchRiver Foundation held a design competition to revamp the Arch experience. Through public and private funding, the redevelopment project got underway. In 2013, residents of St. Louis City and St. Louis County approved a 3/16th sales increase to help fund enhancements to the national park. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) began construction on the Park Over the Highway, a parklike pedestrian platform, in 2013 and completed work in 2015. The CityArchRiver project included 11 new acres of parkland and over five miles of bike and walking paths, as well as the North Gateway, an outdoor natural amphitheater for events and performances. The enhancements included the redesign of Luther Ely Smith Square located between the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse, expanding the park that stretches over the highway, leading to the Gateway Arch’s new west-facing entrance, and connecting the Arch directly to downtown St. Louis for the first time. The multi-phase project, which was completed in July 2018, features a 46,000 square foot addition to the pre-existing visitor center and museum, the complete renovation of the preexisting 106,000 square foot Museum of Westward Expansion, the construction of a 300-foot wide park extension over an adjacent highway, flood abatement measures, revised landscaping for the 91-acre park, and the renovation of two major plazas that lead west from the park into downtown St. Louis. The new museum interprets the nation's westward expansion, St. Louis' early history, and the design and construction of the Gateway Arch, and highlights an extensive collection of artifacts from the Lewis and Clark expedition. The pedestrian park over I-44 replaced an aging parking garage, so visitors can view the attraction without having to cross two intersections. Accorded the Civic Design Award of Excellence, the Gateway Arch restoration project addressed multiple complex needs, including: modernization of the underground museum, built concurrently with the Arch, reconnecting the site to the rest of the city, which had been cut off by an interstate highway, and the repair and prevention of surface discoloration around the base of the Arch. It provided an economic impact of $367 million and 4,400 permanent jobs to the region, as well as 530 construction jobs to the region throughout the project.

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