The Great River Road and the Mississippi River Trail run parallel to each other down both banks of the Mississippi from source to mouth. They are scenic byways. One is for roads and history, the other is for bicycles and nature. Together they make up what should be a continuous National Scenic Byway through ten states.
The Great River Road in St. Louis looks like this,
While Broadway would be a more logical alignment for the Great River Road, the decision is up to MoDot. The scenic depressed lanes of the interstate are the very best way to view that interpretive center and national park, the Gateway Arch. One would think a stately boulevard or some other road might serve the purpose better, but is seems that is not the case. Similarly the MRT, that revenue generating tourism bikeway, is aligned through most of Missouri along roads with speed limits in excess of 45 mph.
There is a difference between a state scenic byway and a national scenic byway in that the latter can recieve federal grants and has proven itself as a national tourism asset. The Great River Road is a national scenic byway along most of its length in all ten states except Missouri. In Missouri it carries a state designation only except for a small section called the Little Dixie Highway.
That small section, is in fact, almost the only nationally recognized byway in Missouri.
Because it is has that federal recognition, the Little Dixie Highway can recieve federal grants. To date, Missouri has been awarded the following grants from the National Scenic Byways Program,
2000 Great River Road-Route 79 Corridor Management Plan and Implementation Strategy $80,000
2000 Great River Road-Route 79 Interpretive Sign Project $38,400
2001 Cliff Drive Interpretive Plan $97,600
2001 Crowley's Ridge Interpretive Development $40,000
2001 Implement Crowley's Ridge Parkway Corridor Management Plan $20,000
2002 Clarksville/Louisiana Natural/Industrial Interpretative Project $229,680
2002 Cliff Drive Interpretation - Phase II $133,485
2002 Hopkin's Schoolhouse Renovation $216,136
2002 Rt. W/WW Cultural and Historical Byway $28,000
2003 Cliff Drive Restoration-Phase II $708,756
2003 Little Dixie Highway - Corridor Management Plan Implementation $24,000
2004 Clarksville Refuge Interpretive Site - Little Dixie Highway $52,000
2004 Georgia Street Historic District Interpretive Site - Little Dixie Highway $79,930
2004 Little Dixie Highway - Corridor Management Plan Implementation, Year 2 $16,800
2005 Little Dixie Highway: Buffalo Fort Interpretive Site $28,089
2005 Little Dixie Highway - Corridor Management Plan Implementation (Year 3) $24,000
2005 Little Dixie Highway: Holcim Cement Plant and Clarksville Refuge Interpretive Site $411,626
2005 Little Dixie Highway: The Slave-Slaveholder Connection $11,110
2005 The Old Trails Road: Corridor Management Plan and Interpretive Booklet $88,000
2006 Historic Route 66 Corridor Management Plan $150,400
2006 State Byway Signage for Historic Route 66 $308,000
2007 Bloomfield Stars and Stripes Byway $200,000
Total: $2,986,012
A full list of grants for each state can be found here. Totals for other states along the Mississippi are considerably higher. Up north, Minnesota got $12,464,833. Across the river, Illinois got $14,302,194. Down south, Louisiana got $11,734,706.
Even though Missouri has dozens of potential or semi-recognized scenic byways, we got grants for almost none of them in the past 20 years. The majority of grants were were awarded for the Little Dixie Highway or something along it in Clarksville or another small town along route 79. If the Great River Road's recognition in Missouri covered the whole state, we'd get more money.
Consider Lousiana,
Lousiana has invested in their section of the Great River Road and made great gains because of it.
Here's a year by year comparison of grants to Missouri and Louisiana by the National Scenic Byway Program.
The National Scenic Byways Program is an economic development program for rural America at its root, but many urban exceptions exist like the Las Vegas Strip and Woodward Avenue in Detroit. St. Louis is traditionally the starting point for dozens of trails west, a stop on Route 66 and the Old Trails Highway, the end of the National Road, and symbolically represented by the Gateway Arch. The many scenic byways passing through St. Louis should pass within a block of the arch grounds and the CVC. These trails should anchor the heart of the region to its suburbs and rural hinterland beyond.
Missouri needs leadership on this issue, and downtown deserves better than an anti-scenic interstate highway.
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