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Utilized For Turning Movements

April 14, 2014 Downtown, Featured, Parking, Planning & Design, Transportation No Comments

In 2009 I was part of a Partnership for Downtown St. Louis committee looking at parking downtown, including areas where on-street would be beneficial for helping retail businesses and their customers.   On November 12, 2009 @ 6:34am I emailed the following to Director of Streets Todd Waelterman, copied to 7th ward alderman Phyllis Young:

Todd,
I was delighted to see the addition of on-street parking on 10th & Olive recently. I emailed Patrice but I haven’t heard back from her yet.

Another area where there is an immediate need for on-street parking is the North side of Washington Ave between 11th and Tucker. The curb lane is hardly used for traffic. In this block there are now more businesses than ever. Copia is expected to reopen so when they resume valet that will take away spaces used by the general public.

The East side of Tucker between St. Charles and Wash Ave is very wide. There is room for on street parking here as well.

On 11th at Wash Ave there are two polls from what used to be metered spaces. For some reason they are no parking now. I see no logistical reason for these not to have parking.

These three spots could add 12-15 more spots in this area. The parking would help all the businesses in the area and have no real impact on traffic flow.

Please ask your staff to look into allowing meters to be added to these areas.

Thanks,
Steve

To my surprise he replied less than an hour later @ 7:18am:

Thanks for your ideas.  These areas will be utilized for turn movements when tucker is complete.

Todd Waelterman
City of St Louis
Director of Streets
314-647-3111

Young never replied. I dropped the subject, waiting for the rebuild of Tucker to be completed and the new I-70 bridge to open.   Since the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opened to traffic on February 9th, 2014 I think it’s time to revisit these areas as candidates for on-street parking. Let’s take a look at these three separate areas, all located within a block of each other:

The three areas where on-street parking would help businesses and improve walkability by creating a fixed barrier between traffic and pedestrians.
The three areas where on-street parking would help businesses and improve walkability by creating a fixed barrier between traffic and pedestrians. Original aerial from Apple Maps.

A) North Side of Washington Ave from 11th to Tucker (12th)

This block of westbound traffic is very odd. Both of the blocks before and after have one westbound travel lane and one parking lane. Yes, city staff seem to think the entire right lane for the full length of the block needs to be a right turn only lane.

This view is from Saturday, but the weekday rush hour is similar, the through lane has 5-6 vehicles each cycle but the right turn lane has few if any cars.
This view is from Saturday, but the weekday rush hour is similar, the through lane has 5-6 vehicles each cycle but the right turn lane has few if any cars.
Occasionally a car or two will park illegally in the block-long turn lane.
Occasionally a car or two will park illegally in the block-long turn lane. This isn’t really a problem because not many going west on Washington Ave want to turn right to go north on Tucker

Sure, leave room before the crosswalk for a couple of cars to get into the right lane to turn northbound on Tucker, but park cars from the Flamingo Bowl to Empire Deli.

B) East Side of Tucker from St. Charles to Washington Ave

The short distance from St. Charles (a named alley) to Washington Ave is far more complicated, not easily resolved.

b

Looking south from the crosswalk crossing Tucker at Washington Ave we see space crossed out between the left turn land and two through lanes
Looking south from the crosswalk crossing Tucker at Washington Ave we see space crossed out between the left turn land and two through lanes. The Meridian bldg (left) has a vacant storefront space facing Tucker, all facing Washington Ave are leased.
Looking north from St. Charles we see the vast amount of asphalt
Looking north from St. Charles we see the vast amount of asphalt, the bus stop should remain
Briefly in May 2013 this was to be a valet stand instead of on Washington Ave. The experiment lasted a week or two but the signs are still up nearly a year later.
Briefly in May 2013 this was to be a valet stand instead of on Washington Ave. The experiment lasted a week or two but the signs are still up nearly a year later.

What’s complicated about this block is northbound Tucker traffic goes from three through lanes down to just two on the new section north of Washington Ave. As I’ve said last August, the new Tucker Blvd streetscape needs to be continued from Washington Avenue to Spruce Street.  In the meantime Tucker could get a restripe road diet. But a left turn lane is needed onto Washington Ave., the current concrete median is getting in the way of aligning lanes better. The easy short-term solution is to remove the median from Locust to Washington Ave.

C) 11th Street at Washington Ave

This is the easiest of all three, just put meters back on the two poles where they once were.

Throughout downtown 11th is an annoying one-way street, parking is allowed on both sides much of the way, including between St. Charles and Washington Ave.
Throughout downtown 11th Street is an annoying one-way street, at least parking is allowed on both sides much of the way, including between St. Charles and Washington Ave.
But for some reason two meters were removed long ago, the polls remain.
But for some reason two meters were removed long ago, the polls remain.

As you can see the left lane is a left-turn lane. I can’t think of any reason why these two spots should not be returned to use as on-street parking.

I’ll be emailing this post to various official in the hope of getting some quick action on two out of three of these (A & C).

— Steve Patterson

 

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