Walking the Brickline Greenway

Published Oct 28, 2026 · Updated Oct 28, 2026

Most of the Brickline Greenway does not exist yet, and that is the honest place to start. Great Rivers Greenway, the regional agency that builds and runs St. Louis’s trail network, describes it as about 10 miles of walking and biking paths that will tie Forest Park to the Gateway Arch, with arms north to Fairground Park and south toward Tower Grove Park, touching 14 neighborhoods and four major city parks along the way. As of October 2026, two stretches are open, a third is mostly built, and the rest sits somewhere between design drawings and early planning. The agency’s target for the whole thing is 2030.

So why would a visitor care now? Because the open parts are short and easy to reach, and one of them carries some of the most affecting public art in the city.

From Chouteau to Brickline

The idea began as the Chouteau Greenway. Great Rivers Greenway and its partners launched a design competition for it in 2017, and in 2018 the jury picked a team led by Stoss Landscape Urbanism, whose concept became the base of the framework plan. The name changed later, after a public naming process. The agency’s board chose “Brickline” as a nod to the building material that has shaped the city for generations.

Great Rivers Greenway puts the cost at $245 million, paid for through a public-private partnership. In February 2026 the agency said the effort was more than 64 percent funded, with all of the local public money in place.

Open now: Market Street and Pillars of the Valley

The stretch most worth a visit runs along the north side of Market Street, from 20th Street west to Compton Avenue. It was built in two pieces. The first, between 20th and 22nd streets in front of St. Louis CITY SC’s Energizer Park stadium, was built in 2023 with the soccer club and the City of St. Louis. The second, 0.85 miles from 22nd Street to Harris-Stowe State University at Compton, opened on April 13, 2026.

What sets this stretch apart is what it remembers. The land along this part of Market Street was once Mill Creek Valley, a dense, walkable Black neighborhood. Starting on February 16, 1959, it was torn down in the name of urban renewal, and Great Rivers Greenway says about 20,000 residents were displaced.

St. Louis artist Damon Davis answered that history with Pillars of the Valley, a permanent installation unveiled on February 16, 2023, exactly 64 years after the first wrecking ball. The pieces are hourglass-shaped monoliths, and each one carries a quote from someone who lived in the neighborhood. Look down as well as up. Landscaping traces the outlines of homes and businesses that once stood here, and each lot’s old street address is etched into the concrete. A granite plinth lists the name, age and occupation of everyone who lived on the block. There is also a tactile model with raised text and braille, so visitors with low or no vision can read the work too.

The installation is planned as a mile-long work between 20th Street and Compton, and the 2026 segment carries it west past the stadium. There is a second piece of art to look for: a mural honoring the St. Louis Stars, a world champion Negro National League baseball team, and the Mill Creek Valley community that supported it. Teen apprentices from St. Louis ArtWorks painted it at Stars Park in summer 2025, working with Great Rivers Greenway and Harris-Stowe.

A good way to see it: start at the stadium end near 20th Street and walk west, slowly, reading the pillars as you go. On a CITY SC match day the stadium end gets crowded, so a non-match morning is the calmer choice.

Open now: the Cortex MetroLink stretch

The oldest piece of the Brickline is also the shortest. Built in 2018 with Bi-State and the Cortex Innovation Community, it runs 0.27 miles from Boyle Avenue to Sarah Street, right alongside the MetroLink tracks. It is paved, with benches and bike racks at Cortex MetroLink Station. The photo at the top of this page was taken from it.

On its own it is a short walk, not a destination. It matters because the station makes it the easiest point on the greenway to reach without a car, and because it is where the future Forest Park link will tie in.

Being built: the north end

The next stretch to open is a 1.3-mile segment from Fairground Park at Natural Bridge Avenue south along Grand, west on Cass Avenue, and south on Spring Avenue to Page Boulevard. Great Rivers Greenway says most of the work should be done by the end of 2026, with the path opening in stages where it is safe, and a full ribbon cutting expected in spring 2027. The agency has also said that businesses along North Grand stay open during construction.

Coming next, with the agency’s posted dates

Everything below is a plan, not a path. Dates are the ones Great Rivers Greenway lists as of October 2026. Big projects slip, so treat them as targets.

• Spring Avenue, Page to Lindell (0.8 miles). Construction is set to start in fall 2026. It will run through the Covenant Blu-Grand Center neighborhood and link the Grand Center Arts District, Saint Louis University and the John J. Cochran Veterans Hospital.
• A bridge on Spring Avenue over I-64/40. A federal grant is secured, and construction is planned to begin in 2027.
• Market Street, 20th Street to the Arch (1.25 miles). In early planning, expected to be done around 2029. This is the piece that would connect Energizer Park to Citygarden, Kiener Plaza, the Old Courthouse and Gateway Arch National Park.
• Forest Park Connector (about a mile). In design, with construction expected to begin in 2029. It would follow Clayton Avenue through the Kingshighway underpass to Boyle Avenue, then one block north to Cortex MetroLink Station. The agency puts its cost at $16 million.
• St. Louis Avenue (1.04 miles). Still in planning, from 20th Street to North Grand, passing the Griot Museum and St. Louis Place Park.

Fitting it into a trip

The Market Street walk pairs easily with a downtown day. The downtown guide covers stops east of the stadium, and the Gateway Arch guide covers the far end of the planned route. If you are in Grand Center for a show, start with the Grand Center guide; the Spring Avenue work will run close by. Forest Park, the greenway’s western anchor, has its own guide.

Rules along the path are set by the city and parks departments that manage each stretch and can change from one section to the next, so follow posted signs. For maps and the latest segment status, go to the source: Great Rivers Greenway’s Brickline page.

Quick answers