Editing Gateway Arch (section)

===Railroad agreement (1949–1958)===

Several proposals were offered for moving the railroad tracks, including:
* Bates-Ross. Tracks would cross the memorial site diagonally in a tunnel.
* Bowen. Similar to Bates-Ross proposal.{{how|date=August 2022}}
* Hill-Tunnel. Supported by Saarinen and NPS engineer Julian Spotts, it would route the tracks in a tunnel below Second and First Streets. Saarinen further said that if the tracks passed between the memorial and the river, he would withdraw his participation.
* LaBeaume-Terminal. Opposed by Saarinen and the NPS, it would lay "three tracks on a contained fill along the lines of the elevated tracks."
* Levee-Tunnel. Proposed by Frank J. McDevitt, president of the St. Louis Board of Public Service, it would lower the tracks into a tunnel concealed by walls and landscaping.

On July 7, 1949, in Mayor [[Joseph Darst]]'s office, city officials chose the Levee-Tunnel plan, rousing JNEMA members who held that the decision had been pressed through when Smith was away on vacation. Darst notified Secretary of the Interior [[Julius Krug]] of the city's selection. Krug planned to meet with Smith and JNEMA but canceled the meeting and resigned on November 11. His successor, [[Oscar L. Chapman]], rescheduled the meeting for December 5 in Washington with delegates from the city government, JNEMA, railroad officials, and Federal government. A day after the conference, they ratified a [[memorandum of understanding]] about the plan: "The five tracks on the levee would be replaced by three tracks, one owned by the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]] (MPR) and two by the [[Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis]] (TRRA) proceeding through a tunnel not longer than 3,000 feet. The tunnel would be approximately fifty feet west of the current elevated line." It would also have an overhead clearance of {{convert|18|ft|m|adj=off}}, lower than the regular requirement of {{convert|22|ft|m}}. Chapman approved the document on December 22, 1949, and JNEMA garnered the approval of the [[Missouri Public Service Commission]] on August 7, 1952.<ref name="Brown5">{{harvp |ps=. |Brown |1984 |loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091101114622/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-5.htm Chpt 5 (1949–1952)]}} Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20091101114622/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-5.htm the original] on March 30, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2011.</ref>

Efforts to appropriate congressional funds began in January 1950 but were delayed until 1953 by the [[Korean War]]'s depletion of federal funds.<ref name="Brown5"/>

In August 1953, Secretary of the Interior [[Fred Andrew Seaton|Fred A. Seaton]] declared that the Department of the Interior and the railroads should finalize the agreement on the new route. In October, NPS and the TRRA decided that the TRRA would employ a surveyor endorsed by Spotts "to survey, design, estimate, and report on" the expenses of shifting the tracks. They chose Alfred Benesch and Associates, which released its final report on May 3, 1957. The firm estimated that the two proposals would cost more than expected: more than $11&nbsp;million and $14&nbsp;million, respectively. NPS director [[Conrad L. Wirth|Conrad Wirth]] enjoined Saarinen to make small modifications to the design. In October, Saarinen redrafted the plans, suggesting:<ref name="Brown6">{{harvp |ps=. |Brown |1984 |loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091101115349/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-6.htm Chpt 6 (1953–1958)]}} Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20091101115349/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-6.htm the original] on April 4, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011.</ref>
{{blockquote|[the placement of] the five sets of railroad tracks into a shortened tunnel 100 feet west of the trestle, with the tracks being lowered sixteen feet. This did not mean that the memorial would be cut off from the river, however, for Saarinen provided a {{convert|960|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} tunnel to be placed over the railroad where a "grand staircase" rose from the levee to the Arch. At the north and south ends of the park, 150-foot tunnels spanned the tracks, and led to the overlook museum, restaurant, and stairways down to the levee. Saarinen designed a subterranean visitor center the length of the distance between the legs, to include two theaters and an entrance by inward-sloping ramps.}}

On November 29, involved interests signed another memorandum of understanding approving Saarinen's rework; implementing it would cost about $5.053&nbsp;million. On March 10, 1959, mayor [[Raymond Tucker]] proposed that they drop "the tunnel idea in favor of open cuts roofed with concrete slabs," which would cost $2.684&nbsp;million, $1.5&nbsp;million less than the cost of the approved plan. On May 12, 1958, Tucker, TRRA president Armstrong Chinn, and Missouri Pacific Railroad president Russell Dearmont entered a written agreement: "The TRRA would place $500,000 in escrow for the project, and the city [would] sell $980,000 of the 1935 bonds to match the Federal contribution." Director Wirth and Secretary Seaton approved the plan on June 2.<ref name="Brown6"/>

In July 1953, Representative [[Leonor Sullivan]] introduced H.R. 6549, a bill authorizing the allocation of no more than $5&nbsp;million to build the arch. After much negotiation, both houses of Congress approved the bill in May 1954, and on May 18, 1954, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] signed the bill into law as Public Law 361. Congress could not afford to appropriate the funds in 1955, so association president William Crowdus resorted to asking the [[Rockefeller Foundation|Rockefeller]] and [[Ford Foundation]]s for $10&nbsp;million. The foundations denied the request because their function as [[private foundation (United States)|private foundation]]s did not include funding national memorials. In 1956, Congress appropriated $2.64&nbsp;million to be used to move the railroad tracks. The remainder of the authorized appropriation was requested via six congressional bills, introduced on July 1, 1958, that revised Public Law 361 to encompass the cost of the entire memorial, increasing federal funds by $12.25&nbsp;million. A month later the Department of the Interior and the [[Office of Management and Budget|Bureau of the Budget]] endorsed the bill, and both houses of Congress unanimously passed the bill. Eisenhower signed it into law on September 7. The NPS held off on appropriating the additional funds, as it planned to use the already-appropriated funds to initiate the railroad work.<ref name="Brown6"/>