Concrete Proposal: Ladue Needs More Sidewalks and Now

March 23 is a very important date for the City of Ladue. All requests for sidewalks to accompany the rebuild of McKnight Road from Ladue to Clayton Road must be turned in by that date. Or as community activist and advocate for sidewalks Beth Deutsch says: “This project will be done and we’ll have to wait another 20 years to propose sidewalks on McKnight.”

Deutsch, who resides on Godwin Lane off of McKnight near highway 40 and her committee which includes chairs realtor Maya Kefalov and Caroline Chicoine has been combing the community for support for their project.

In a span of just two weeks in November, the committee drew together 50 volunteers and gathered 740 signatures of support. “We could have gotten three times as many (signatures) if we could have used the internet,” Kefalov was quick to point out.

The mayor and Ladue council members wanted some kind of proof that citizens really wanted to expand the network of sidewalks within the community. Already, sidewalks stretch the length of Clayton and Price Roads and some of Ladue Road. Litzsinger is without sidewalks as is most of Warson Road. Presently, there are no sidewalks on Dielman along the portion in Ladue.

Deutsch is passionate about this project. She is a long distance runner who often has to dodge cars during her regular workouts on Lay Road and other nearby streets.

“Twelve years ago, my family moved from University City. I brought up the issue then, and the council told me there was absolutely no money to do a project then. That was then, and this is a new day and we have a new council and a new mayor,” said Deutsch.

Deutsch is pleased the council has shown unanimous support to expand sidewalks, contracting the engineering firm Horner & Shifrin, Inc. to study the issue, and has left $45,000 in the budget to continue the dialogue.

The March 23 deadline is to request a grant to in order to obtain funds from the federal government for sidewalk expansion. According to Jim Wild senior manager of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, approval could mean 80 percent funding from the feds.

If so, Ladue could pay its share--some $200,000 to $300,000 out of the storm water taxes collected by the city.

The committee quickly found the old axiom “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” The ad-hoc committee now has neighbors attending all regular council meetings and public works meetings and sometimes bring their children to get an introduction how local government functions.

The McKnight project includes the rebuild of two bridges along the one-mile stretch from Ladue Road to Clayton Road. Culverts will be rebuilt, and putting in sidewalks during the construction phase would be easily done. “We’ve got a lot of community support. We are hoping this gets done. We want a more walkable, sustainable community. We need more sidewalks,” Deutsch said.

To expand the project further along Dielman, Litzsinger, Lay and Warson roads, likely the city would have to approve a bond issue.

The committee to put sidewalks along McKnight Road wants just a few slices, not the whole loaf of bread at this time.