Workzone Mobility Ordinance | St. Louis City

Last week, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved legislation to update how the city handles construction sites and their impact on sidewalks and bike lanes.

Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia sponsored the proposal that gives the city’s streets department more authority to keep sidewalks open and guidance to developers creating safe accommodations in the case of construction impacting sidewalks or bike lanes. These accommodations can include: covered sidewalks, fencing, scaffolding, and other safety improvements.

We support this change as an important step to prioritize the needs of people who walk, use wheelchairs or ride bikes. Our sidewalks belong to everyone and should safely remain open during construction.

We look forward to working with the streets department on incorporating some of our priorities into these changes, including: minimum sidewalk widths, bike lane accommodations, specific considerations for people with visual impairments or people who use wheelchairs, and appropriate lighting requirements.

The legislation also updates the permit fee structure creating a higher-fee for developers that want to close sidewalks on major roads and around downtown. The increased fees will allow the streets department to hire two additional inspectors to enforce the ordinance and an additional plan reviewer to give guidance to developers on creating safe and continuous temporary connections for non-automobile transportation users during construction.