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In last week's newsletter, I noted that Kirkwood's City Council was set to approve the submission of a Grant Application to help fund the redesign of Argonne from Geyer to Taylor. I also promised to explore the project in a little more detail via feature-length story, and managed to publish the following a couple of hours before the meeting:
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Argonne Deserves a Bike Lane
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At tonight's meeting, Kirkwood City Council will approve a grant application to overhaul Downtown Kirkwood's most iconic street. If East-West Gateway approves the city's STP grant application, the federal government would foot $2,089,600 —80%— of the $2,612,000 of the total estimated cost to redesign and repave Argonne between Geyer and Taylor, with the City covering the remaining 20% of the …
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The Council approved the application at the meeting, but I think there's still time to influence the application's final form. I attempted to get the final plans from the city (via FOIA request) but was informed that the final application will not be available until February 7th, the date on which they're due. Argonne is one of the few streets in Kirkwood that is well-suited for a protected bike lane, so if you haven't yet, email the Council and encourage them to include it in the application.
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- Speaking of grants, you may have heard that the Trump administration issued an executive order pausing a bunch of federal grants earlier this week (before a federal judge temporarily blocked it and/or the Trump administration walked it back). If you were curious, it seems that the Safer Streets for All (SS4A) grant (the grant that is currently funding Kirkwood's Southeast Kirkwood Connectivity study, the city-wide speed study, and the Safer Routes to Schools study) was included in the original pause, while the Surface Transportation Program (STP), Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), and Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) that Kirkwood is using to fund projects like the Grant's Trail Extension, the Kirkwood Road lane diet, and (if approved) the Argonne project, were all exempt. Irrelevant for now, but we'll see if they revisit it.
- A couple of items from last week's Webster-Kirkwood Times:
- On pg. 1, psyched to see the KVC mental health facility was unanimously approved by Webster City Council
- On pg. 4, there's a nice update to the Glendale coffee shop rezoning proposal I wrote about last week. It turns out that in addition to the proposal at 415 N. Sappington, someone else applied to open a coffee shop directly next door at 421 N. Sappington. Competition between businesses is good for consumers and I hope the city lets both of these go through. Coffee, a play space for kids, a working cafe, smoothies, and ice cream? What a massive win these would be for walkability in Glendale. Worst case scenario it turns out that they can't both make it and the space opens up for someone else to make a go of it with a dream of their own
- On pg. 8, the Kirkwood Historical Society's Black History Month events (which actually kick off tomorrow), all look pretty neat so make sure to mark your calendars!
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That's it for this week! Have a great weekend everyone!
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