The Walk That's Still in the Works
The city of Ladue has secured Transportation Alternative Program funding to extend the shared-use path on South 40 Drive, connecting Deer Creek Preserve east to the Trails End subdivision and west to the intersection of Clayton and South 40, according to the city's own project page. The plan grew out of a citywide walk study the city commissioned from Horner & Shifrin, presented to the council in April 2023. The engineering contract for the design phase was approved in October 2024, and the project remains in that design stage. There's no construction date yet, which is worth knowing if you've been hoping to see shovels this fall. Ladue infrastructure projects tend to move at a deliberate pace, and this one is no exception.
Once finished, the extension will give walkers and dog owners an off-street route between the preserve and the residential blocks around it, without crossing Clayton Road traffic on foot. Pedestrian signal improvements at the South 40 Drive and Clayton Road intersection are part of the same scope.
In the meantime, the established options still cover most of a resident's outdoor routine. Tilles Park, at Litzsinger and McKnight, has been a picnic destination since the Works Progress Administration built its original facilities beginning in 1938, and the park earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. Every December it draws visitors from across the region for its Winter Wonderland light display, a tradition that predates most of the retail on Clayton Road.
The initiative marks a major milestone in updating Ladue's citywide walk plan, successfully transforming historically disconnected municipal parks and spaces into an interconnected, walkable network.
