"Immense amounts of pedestrianization"
A note on population decline and the future of the City of St. Louis.
Quick note: I got to be on the new “We’re More than D&D Characters” podcast, where I talked to host Brookelin Backus about how press conferences are a lot like turn-based combat in Dungeons and Dragons. Check it out if you’ve got some time!
Ok, on to the good stuff…
Zohran Mamdani, the charismatic democratic socialist who beat out an Italian pervert to become the front-runner for mayor of New York City, talked about the city’s opportunity for “immense amounts of pedestrianization” in the central business district when asked about congestion pricing during the 2025 Transit Riders Mayoral Forum.
“Immense amounts of pedestrianization” has been rattling around in my brain ever since I heard it, like a catchy melody.
St. Louis is a city built for cars over people, but it didn’t used to be. In the early 1900s, streetcars were the primary mode of transportation for most St. Louisans. They connected much of the city, and expanded out to the county to places like Florissant, Kirkwood, and the newly incorporated Clayton.
In his book “Mapping St. Louis,” author Andrew Hahn dedicates an entire chapter to the 1915 Tourist Trolley map, which shows miles and miles of streetcar lines that transported millions of people every year.
Now, the streetcars are gone. They’ve been replaced by three highways that cut through the heart of the city and streets so wide that they easily convert into drag-racing strips for irresponsible drivers.
Hahn starts his chapter about the streetcars by saying “A growing city needs to move large groups of people across large distances in a safe manner,” which is an astute observation that should be considered by civic leaders who dedicate their time and energy into understanding how our city can start to grow again. What we’ve proven over the last 50 years is that building infrastructure that prioritizes cars over people is not the best way to move large groups of people around safely. We continue to break records for annual pedestrian deaths.
Considering all of this, I was so excited to hear Sarah Fenske’s conversation with Ryan McClure from the Gateway Arch Park foundation on the latest episode of the 314 Podcast.
Ryan told Sarah that “conversations are already underway” about cutting the highways that run through downtown. I hope those conversations are earnest, and we see some tangible plans in the coming years.
Truly, nothing could be better for our city’s future than making it easier for everyone to get around without a car. Cutting highways is one way to do that. We could also convert the 4-and-6-lane arterial streets that cut through high-population centers to have dedicated bike and bus lanes (Tucker, Market, and McCausland come to mind). And, of course, once the uncertainty of the Trump administration has fizzled out, and we hopefully get a federal administration that understands the importance of public transit, we can renew plans for the Metrolink Greenline.
I understand that major infrastructure changes like these – tearing down highways, reducing car lanes, prioritizing alternative means of transportation – give a certain group of people a lot of anxiety. We’ve become so accustomed to a world built for cars that we cringe at the thought that we might try something else. After all, won’t all of these changes just make traffic worse?
But one need look no further than New York City’s implementation of congestion pricing to see that disincentivizing car travel and incentivizing pedestrianization and public transit can have an immediate positive effect on a municipality and its residents.
Traffic deaths are down. Broadway attendance is up 12%. Subway ridership is up 7%, and bus ridership is up 12%. Congestion pricing has been an unequivocal success for New York, and the same mindset could do wonders for the City of St. Louis.
Luckily, the City of St. Louis has already begun a lot of this work, in the small ways we can. See the Friendly Streets initiative, begun under former Mayor Tishaura Jones’ administration and continued under Mayor Cara Spencer’s administration, to see projects that are making downtown and other parts of the city people-friendly. The 7th street improvements, Brickline Greenway, Louisiana Calm Streets, and other parts of this initiative are shining examples of how we can make St. Louis City a better, safer place for everyone, especially those who are not in a car.
And yes, there will be those in the surrounding counties who will hate this idea. Most of them want to be able to drive their Ford F-150 directly into a parking garage inside Busch Stadium, see a host of armed police officers keeping the “urban” people out, and then drive back to west county after the game, having never supported a local business or interacted with a city resident. But those aren’t the people we need to be catering to. We need to be building our city for current and future residents, and visitors who understand the value in being able to walk around safely in a beautiful city. This is how we grow our city and our local economy.
If the City of St. Louis were immensely pedestrianized, visitors could park their car at the nearest Metro stop, ride the train into downtown, and be within walking distance to everything they want to see and experience. This would bring more people into downtown, helping to reduce crime (there is notably less crime when there are more people in a space).
“Immense amounts of pedestrianization” is a win-win-win for the City of St. Louis. The sooner we rip that bandaid and begin prioritizing people over cars, aggressively and at scale, the sooner we can become the type of City that more people want to live in.