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| Saint Louis Forest Park "For all the news that is Saint Louis, Saint Louis Front Page." |
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by Bob Moore, SLFP.com ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 26, 2010 - After last week's park congestion, Forest Park, the Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Louis City Streets, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the park institutions have worked out a plan to improve traffic flow in Forest Park. "We are all working together to help the visitors more easily find their way to the attractions and avoid long lines and the safety concerns of backups on the highway," stated Forest Park Forever President Lesley Hoffarth, at a press conference today outside the Visitor's Center. Hoffarth said this has been a growing problem over the years at Forest Park. "Everyone loves the Hampton interchange. Before the Highway 64 was rebuilt, 60% of the traffic coming into the park used Hampton and now they have come back". She suggested that it is helpful to know where you want to go before coming into the park and use one of nine appropriate entrances, not just Hampton. For example, if park visitors want to go to Probsten Golf Course or to the Art Museum, they can take McCauland/Skinker and either use the Lagoon entrance or use Lindell. See Forest Park Map. Hoffarth stated that the St. Louis City Police and Forest Park attractions will monitor traffic conditions on a daily basis. When they see morning crowds growing and the parking lots filling up by noon to the point a crowded attendance can be expected, the police will call MoDOT. MoDOT will turn on changable message boards eastbound on Hwy 64 at McCausland saying "Take the McCausland Exit" and on westbound Hwy 64, it will say, "Take Kingshighway Exit". On eastbound and westbound Hwy 44, the sign will suggest taking Kingshighway. Hoffarth added that in addition to the parking lots at the Zoo and the Visitor's Center, there are 800 spots in the Upper Muny Parking lot that people can use when the other lots are full. "They have to be willing to walk a little ways," she recommended. The street department is also putting up additional signing on McCausland and Kingshighway to help people once they get off the highway and enter the park. The new plan will take affect this weekend and any future warm sunny weekdays or weekends when Forest Park draws a large crowd. MoDOT is adding portable changeable message boards today on both interstates to spread this message.
Saint Louis Forest Park - In 1876, Forest Park was created from 1,371 acres of land west of downtown St. Louis. By the 1890s, the public park was widely used for recreation with bicycle paths, baseball diamonds and lawn tennis courts. An expanded lake provided parkgoers with an opportunity for boating in the summer and skating in the winter. Funds were raised to develop the St. Louis Zoo by the Forest Park Zoological Association. The western half of the metropolitan park was used as the site for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Today, the Saint Louis Art Museum occupies one of the few remaining structures built for the Fair. The Missouri Historical Society is comprised of the new Emerson Electric Center and the Jefferson Memorial Building. The building was the first memorial built to honor Thomas Jefferson and was funded with proceeds from the 1904 Fair. A natural amphitheater near Art Hill was developed as The Muny in 1917 with proceeds from a theatrical production called the Pageant and Masque which was performed on a stage built over part of the Grand Basin. In 1936, an Art Deco-style Conservatory opened in Forest Park. The Jewel Box is surrounded by rose gardens, lily ponds, statuary and monuments and houses seasonal displays. The site of a razed Mounted Police Station became space for the McDonnell Planetarium which was completed in 1963. In 1984, the city sold the Planetarium to the Museum of Science and Natural History. The building, renamed the St. Louis Science Center, is connected by a highway overpass and tunnel to its new headquarters, south of Forest Park. Private donors to Forest Park Forever paid for the $1.1 million restoration of the World's Fair Pavilion. The current renovation is the first of three scheduled phases of Forest Park Master Plan. Forest Park is used by more than 12 million visitors a year. Forest Park Forever was founded in 1986 to work in partnership with the Department of Parks, Recreation & Forestry to rehabilitate and maintain the Forest Park as the "Crown Jewel" of the metropolitan area. The annual Great Forest Park Balloon Glow and the Great Forest Park Balloon Race. is held on Central Fields, located just north of the Jewel Box. The Concours d'Elegance and Easter Car Show is held on the Muny upper parking lot. 
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