Mississippi River Bridge a done deal

For better or worse, it looks like that Mississippi River Bridge plan I posted on the other day is a done deal. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich signed off on the deal this morning. I think this bridge is important for the future of our region, but this four-lane design is going to come back on us in the end. But seeing as how I am not the governor of either state and haven absolutely no influence over either one of them, I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with what we’re going to get. Maybe we can convince them to put a lid over Memorial Drive while their at it.

For more details on the signed deal check out this St. Louis Post Dispatch article.

Real Mississippi River Bridge deal coming this week?

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is reporting that Illinois and Missouri transportation officials have come to an agreement on the Mississippi River Bridge proposal. This time, unlike last week, I’m not joking. The paper says something official will be coming later this week. Word has it that the project will not utilize tolls. Unfortunately, it sounds like they are going to scale back the project to only 4 lanes instead of the originally intended 8.

I understand the need to watch the budget and reluctance to install tolls on the bridge, but I have to wonder if there wasn’t a way we could have used the original concept? Illinois officials have been bending over backwards to make this deal happen, but Missouri’s Transportation Director (or Dictator if you prefer) Pete Rahn has been fighting tooth and nail against it. Now we’re going to (probably) build a bridge that’s going to need to be updated in 10 years. What foresight.

I really don’t get why Missouri has been fighting so hard against the Illinois side of the metro area. The resurgence of East St. Louis and other near-east municipalities would be a major boon to the area. I have always believed that both sides of the river are just one side of the same coin. Much like Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. Those learned to work more in tune with one another and their metro area is thriving because of it. Unfortunately our state officials seem to have failed to learn their lesson. One can only hope that Illinois has vision.

It will be interesting to see have this pans out this week. Check out the Post article yourself for more details.

New Mississippi River Bridge design unveiled

Just when you think St. Louis lacks imagination, they come up with a really amazing plan like this. Check out this new Mississippi River bridge proposal to link Missouri and Illinois at St. Louis. The arch design would complement our “Gateway to the West” arch quite well. Projections only have this puppy costing an amazingly $817 million. With no tolls.

Oh wait. Sorry. I thought the plans said St. Louis. They really say Dubai. As in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I guess we will have to continue bickering over how we are going to finance our $910 million, far less attractive, bridge proposal for now. Its a shame that building this bridge here would cost $5 billion and take 20 years to contract. Sigh.

For more info on the Mississippi River Bridge project check out their website. You can find more on the Dubai Bridge at Gizmodo.

*NOTE - It should be noted that the labor force in UAE is not very well compensated. So its not quite a 1 to 1 comparison here.

St. Louis traffic light nightmares

Oh how I hate sitting at traffic lights. I understand why they exist and can’t think of any better way to manage traffic, but I still hate them. And traffic lights in the City of St. Louis are some of the worst you’ll ever come across.

I live in Benton Park and workout at the Fitness Factory on Washington Avenue Downtown. My rage just increases every time I make that trip. My route takes me down Tucker Avenue and I swear that there are times that I hit ever light on a red. That half mile run from Chouteau to Washington can take forever under those conditions. Long enough to open even the most patient person’s eyes to this horrendous problem facing St. Louis: non-synchronized traffic lights!

Obviously, you feel the impact of this problem most significantly in areas with many intersections such as Downtown, but the problem is city-wide. The City has been talking up and “studying” plans for improved synchronization for years, but there has been little action. In early January, the Downtown St. Louis Partnership claimed that traffic signals Downtown, east of Tucker, will be synced by this April. That’s great, if true, but what about the rest of the City?

Just another one of those little things that leaves people with a bad impression of our fair city. How is it that virtually every county in the metropolitan area can have sensors in the ground to detect if a car is waiting at an intersection, but St. Louis can’t even sync the traffic lights of major transportation corridors without studying the problem for ten years? Unfortunately, nobody in City Hall seems to have a good answer to that question.

To be fair, I’m probably being overly dramatic about the situation, but there is not doubt that there is a problem. Feel free to share your displeasure with your local alderman if you feel particularly passionate. If there is a particular light you have had problems with, the City actually has a special website to report the issue. Let the complaints begin: light synchronization complaints.

Expand the St. Louis Metrolink System again?

*NOTE - This article was originally written in July of 2006 for the newsletter.

While we wait for the Cross County Metrolink line and in the midst of discussions on cutting back Metro services, area transportation managers are busy planning future MetroLink expansions.

Area leaders feel that this public transit service needs to expand into North & South City, in order to provide transportation alternatives to a broader area.. The East-West Gateway Council of Governments, Metro and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) have been studying such a possibility for almost a year.

The study is analyzing the potential costs and available routes, as well as the positive and negative effects of this proposed expansion. The year and a half long study is scheduled to be completed in early 2007 and is being funded by Tax Credits from MODOT.
One area of particular interest in this study is the incorporation of transit-oriented developments. These developments would revolve around individual MetroLink stops and focus on “walkable” mixed-use developments, without the necessity of using a car. This type of development has grown increasing popular with City Administrators in recent years. A local example would be the development around the Amtrak Station in downtown Kirkwood.

The proposed routes for this expansion project, along with other information ,can be found at www.northsouthstudy.org