The Twin Cities Great Streets Initiative Study is a transportation corridor plan which links the Main Street districts of Festus and Crystal City, Missouri. These two cities have evolved together, beginning with a robust glassmaking industry based in Crystal City. Originally a company town, Crystal City is bordered to the east by the Mississippi River with a strict boundary to the west. This western border is where a new city, Festus, emerged as a hub of commerce related to other non-glass company businesses.

Eventually, the glassmaking industry moved overseas and the Twin Cities were left with two distinct main street districts as their primary economic drivers. This plan studies both main streets and the connections between them through a multi-disciplinary planning process and robust community engagement. The plan seeks to implement the principles of the Great Streets Initiative:  that all streets should reflect their communities, be multi-modal, be places for people, and be able to evolve over time with a variety of adjacent land uses. 

As in any community-related project, public engagement was a key component of the planning process. Community members were invited to participate in the planning process through five multi-day design workshops and open houses. Feedback was also gathered through online mapping and polling and door-to-door canvassing of business owners. DTLS was an active facilitator in all five workshops and open house events and engaged the public on a regular basis as a local liaison.

The result of the engagement process is a multifaceted plan which seeks to unify the two main street districts into one entity. This is achieved through infrastructure improvements such as greenways, sidewalks, and traffic adjustments, as well as redistributed parking capacity and safe pedestrian connections to parking areas. The plan also includes guidelines for branding, business development, historic preservation, and a variety of infill living arrangements.