Burger King at Loughborough Commons Lacks Pedestrian Access Route

Given what a clusterfuck Loughborough Commons has been I really shouldn’t be surprised the new Burger King lacks a pedestrian access route. Burger King joins Lowe’s as two places at Loughborough Commons where pedestrians are not welcomed — pedestrians must be willing to risk injury or death and share space with cars to access these buildings located in a project that utilized generous tax incentives.

The public continues to get hosed at Loughborough Commons. I’m surprised because providing pedestrian access, as you will see, would have been quite simple.

Above: new Burger King in outlot at Loughborough Commons.

Burger King has very generous provisions for the motorist but zip for the pedestrian. What pedestrians you might ask. Well, people do walk to Loughborough Commons. People also arrive by bus and bike. Yes, most use a car but we shouldn’t overlook those not driving private autos. Everyone spending money at Loughborough Commons is paying an extra tax to the Community Improvement district. Shouldn’t pedestrians expect some accommodation in return?

Above: parcel map from GEO St Louis shows the four out lots with the Burger King lot highlighted.

Potential pedestrians coming to the Burger King include nearby residents and workers at other businesses at Loughborough Commons. For example, a clerk at the OfficeMax may want to walk to Burger King for lunch

Above: location of a future Fifth Third Bank between Loughborough Commons' main entrance and Burger King.

So how would it have been easy to provide pedestrian access to this Burger King? From the above picture you can see the width of the Fifth Third Bank lot is not terribly wide. To the right is the new Burger King. To the left is the main entrance for Loughborough Commons. Both sides of that entry include Pedestrian sidewalks.

Above: Sidewalk along East side of main entrance to Loughborough Commons. Outlots are to the right.

So they have sidewalks bringing the pedestrian into the development.

Above: sidewalk ready to be extended to out parcels.

At the bottom of the entrance the sidewalk ends (above) with a crosswalk to the South (below). Going off to the left is an outer drive that separates the out parcels from the main parking area. When built I though the solution was pretty good – the sidewalk could simply be continued to serve all four outlots.

Above: connection to other stores at Loughborough Commons.

Of course for all the establishments located in the out parcels to be accessible the sidewalk needs to be continuous. Burger King being located in the 2nd of four out parcels the fact they didn’t continue the sidewalk means the remaining two to the East will also not be in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. It also means that an able-bodied person who might consider walking a few hundred feet is being encouraged to drive.

Above: aerial photo shows outparcels in upper right of site. These all have a Loughborough address but walking from Loughborough to the front door of each will be an unnecessary challenge. Those in wheelchairs need not bother.

How can this possible be so bad? They had the origins for a sidewalk to serve all four of the out parcels yet they still managed to screw it up. Clearly the pedestrian is given no thought. The folks at DESCO & their engineering consultant must all be amateurs because they can’t seem to figure out something so utterly simple.  If they want to do stupid development with their own money fine but when they hold out their hand asking for help from the public we need people & ordinances to ensure we’ll actually get something worthy of our investment.

This is not about excluding cars, or even creating the ideal urbanist project, but about planning for all means of site arrival as well as circulation within the site.  One of the residents in new homes a few blocks to the West might want to walk to the grocery store or to get a Whopper his way.  I’m referring to Mayor Slay, a new resident to the area.

One of the four out parcels will soon have a Fifth Third Bank.

Above: A "conditional-use" hearing will be held Thursday December 4, 2008 for the Fifth Third Bank. City Hall Room 2008 at 8:30am.

One of the conditions needs to be that the bank extend the sidewalk along the edge of their parcel and that they actually connect to it. I’m emailing everyone I know at City Hall to try to improve this situation before it gets worse.

I’m sure Alderman Matt Villa would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on Loughborough Commons.