In September I posted about a dangerous to reach MetroBus stop, and once there it was nearly impossible for the driver to see me waiting. It stopped because a passenger wanted to get off, not because he saw me. The problem was overgrown trees just before the stop.
Looking West for the approaching MetroBus, August 2015Looking Eastbound on November 1st
Driving down Manchester recently I noticed the overgrowth had been trimmed, as I had requested, by the City and/or Metro. Crossing Manchester at this point is still dangerous, nothing has been done to address that. In August I used this stop to take the #32 back downtown because overgrowth on the other side blocked the sidewalk — preventing me from reaching the next stop at the traffic light seen in the background. That overgrowth was also cleared.
It’s far from perfect — but it’s also far more user-friendly than before.
Big box retailers long had a standard formula: cheap building surrounded by acres of surface parking. More than a decade ago they began to experiment with new designs as they entered urban locations where land prices & population density meant acres of surface parking wasn’t possible. I recall seeing the Home Depot on N. Halsted under construction — I just can’t recall when. I do know it was open by March 2005:
The company has eight stores in the city, including a unique two-story, storefront-style location at 2665 N. Halsted St.
Like Target, Home Depot knows the value of a flexible footprint. That gives it more options in working its way closer to the urbanite customers it craves. The Halsted store doesn’t sell much lumber; it focuses on the tools and interior design products that North Side condo owners shop for.
A lot of city neighborhoods fit Home Depot’s demographic, which is neither wealthy nor poor. The main thing: plenty of homeowners. “Home Depot is looking for bungalow city,” says Mr. Kirsch of Baum Realty. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Though I’d been past it numerous times since it opened, I never went inside. Last month my husband and I needed something from a hardware store. He called a couple of local places near the Streeterville condo where we stay while in Chicago but they didn’t have what we needed. Looking at transit to the various locations we decided the N. Halsted location would be the easiest.
The Home Depot on N. Halsted in Lincoln Park was built more than a decade ago.The garage entry/exit is recessed from the sidewalkThe store has two interior levelsRooftop garden on 4The front of the 2-story store is mostly glass, the is on the 2nd floorThe rooftop garden on 4. Parking is on 3 and the balance of 4
The question is how do we get urban retail to take more urban form in areas where land isn’t so expensive? Can a city, like St. Louis, through zoning or incentives, create an atmosphere where retailers are willing to invest in more expensive buildings with structured parking?
None of us know for sure when, if ever, the underground chemical reaction (aka fire) at the Bridgeton Landfill will reach the radioactive waste in the adjacent West Lake Landfill. Hopefully it never will.
Bridgeton Landfill, September 2013
But until something is done — such as an underground concrete barrier — people in the vicinity have reasons to be concerned. For those unfamiliar, here’s some basics.
The Bridgeton Landfill, was originally a farm, then a quarry — which closed in 2005.
On Dec. 23, 2010, Bridgeton Landfill LLC reported to the MDNR that elevated temperatures had been detected in some gas extraction wells in the south quarry of the landfill. The facility began testing the landfill gas and found high levels of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and low levels of methane. All these conditions are indicative of a below-ground, high-temperature chemical reaction, also known as a “subsurface smoldering event” or “underground fire.”
1973: Radioactive waste from the Manhattan project is dumped at the site. St. Louis was one place where uranium and radium were refined for the atomic bombs that were eventually dropped on Japan. A private company eventually bought the waste from the US government in the 1960s to extract minerals.
The waste was eventually crushed like rocks or dirt. The company later mixed the material with five parts of top soil to dilute it. 48,000 tons of contaminated soil was trucked to the landfill and presented as clean fill dirt for spreading on trash. All of this was done at a time when environmental regulation were lax compared with today. (KMOV: Bridgeton Landfill: How the current situation came to pass — RECOMMENDED)
There isn’t even agreement on the distance between the underground fire and the radioactive material. The corporation that owns the Bridgeton Landfill says 2,500 feet, the EPA & Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster say it is 1,000 feet away. Last month St. Louis County released has a draft plan for an emergency response to a catastrophic event,
In January the Streetsblog network expanded into new areas, including a Streetsblog St. Louis. In April many of us gathered in Dallas to discuss urban blogging, followed by the 23rd Congress for the New Urbanism conference. Later this week we’ll meet again, this time in Cincinnati. Three weeks after taking Megabus to Cleveland via Chicago I’ll be back on Megabus to Chicago and across Indiana into Ohio.
I’ve driven past Cincinnati several times over the years, but I’ve never stopped. Like many my age, I grew up watching WKRP in Cincinnati. To this pre-teen, in Oklahoma City, Cincinnati looked more like what I thought a city should be — based solely on the show’s opening sequence.
With Thanksgiving coming up I had to include a clip from a classic episode.
I’m sure Cincinnati today is nothing like 1978 sitcom Cincinnati, I’ll have three nights to explore. I don’t know much about the city, only what I’ve read. I’ll check out Fountain Square:
Fountain Square has been the symbolic center of Cincinnati since 1871. The square, which replaced a butcher’s market, was a gift from Henry Probasco in memory of Tyler Davidson. Probasco traveled to Munich and commissioned a bronze allegorical fountain from Ferdinand von Miller named The Genius of Water. Originally, the square occupied a large island in the middle of Fifth Street with buildings to the north and south, much like nearby Piatt Park. A 1971 renovation of the square included slightly moving and re-orienting the fountain to the west, and enlarging the plaza by removing the original westbound portion of 5th Street and demolishing buildings to the north. It is used for lunch-breaks, rallies, and other gatherings. (Wikipedia)
Of course I’ll read a lot on the UrbanCincy blog, also part of the Streetblog network. I’ll check out their public transit — including the route of the modern streetcar line opening September 2016. Their never completed subway sounds fascinating. Few things I love more than seeing a new city for the first time, thank you Streetsblog!’
In Part 1 I introduced you the best Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in America — Cleveland’s Heathline BRT, in Part 2 I looked at where it missed points in international rankings, scoring 76/100. Today I want to look at areas where it should’ve scored lower: pedestrian streetscape, & wheelchair access.
Many intersections along Euclid Ave pedestrians must press a button to get a walk signal. This was not requited elsewhere. This is an unnatural extra step that most pedestrians ignore. Decidedly less pedestrian-friendly!The streetscape is only 7 years old but many of the curb ramps & detectable warnings were in disrepair. On the plus side they didn’t hold water like so many in St. Louis.In some spots the new sidewalks were too narrow, we passed through here often meeting people trying to walk side-by-side. When meeting others only wide enough for single-file.At some stations I entered via the front door via a typical low-floor bus fold out rampBut it often didn’t work so the operator had to lift it manually.Manual ramp operation is a benefit of low-floor vs high-floor buses. There’s no manual mode for a high-floor lift that doesn’t work.Other stations meant I had to enter/exit on the driver’s side so I had to use the first left-side door. The gap is too wide, the built-in power ramp only worked once.Most of the time the driver had to grab the portable ramp for me to enter/exit.Another time before the ramp was in placeRamp ready nowExiting
Bus Rapid Transit is supposed to deliver a light rail-like user experience. Maybe in other BRT systems around the world they’ve figured out accessibility but for me this was a standard bus experience. Maybe that’s a fair trade-off — most get a better experience.
I can still use donations to help cover the costs to visit Cleveland — click here to donate $5+ dollars.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
