Jefferson Commons: Very Good ADA Access With One Big Exception

Jefferson Commons has done an amazing job retrofitting new tenant spaces into the old Foodland building on Jefferson (see Reurbanizing Jefferson & Lafayette Pt 2: Foodland). As I had hoped

UIC/Greenstreet Properties did a great job and, as required by the ADA, provided a non-drivewalk access route from each public transit stop. Shopping centers must do so, whereas stand-alone properties can provide access through a driveway. Yet an important detail for compliance was overlooked. It may have been shown on the drawings but overlooked during construction, or left off the drawings by mistake.

I’ve not seen any crossing paint here, drawing that in on construction plans can greatly reduce a design or construction error. I’ll be sending this to my contacts at the companies responsible and to city officials.

— Steve Patterson

Tucker Offramp Now Open, Adjacent Land More Valuable

Yesterday MoDOT and city officials cut a ribbon to open traffic from I-70 onto the new Tucker.

With the new offramp, and the opening of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge in 2014, the adjacent land is suddenly prime real estate. Will it be developed like most highway offramp areas or will it be more urban/dense/walkable? I don’t have any illusions the city will make any such demands so my only hope is Paul McKee comes through with a plan the surprises his many critics.

— Steve Patterson

Jefferson Avenue Needs A Road Diet, Corridor Study Part 1

Jefferson Avenue is a 5+ mile north-south arterial road in south, central, and north St. Louis (map). Along this stretch the road has 4-6 travel lanes, a center turn lane, and sometimes 2 parking lanes. What’s pretty consistent is the public right-of-way and curb to curb widths are excessively wide.

Here are some examples of the right-of-way width in locations you might be familiar:

• Jefferson @ Russell: 120 feet
• Lindell @ Euclid: 100 feet
• Kingshighway @ Delmar: 100 feet
• Grand @ Hardford: 80 feet
• Chouteau @ Mississippi: 80 feet
• Manchester @ Taylor: 70 feet

The above figures are from Sanborn Maps, mostly from 1909. Again, these are the public right-of-way (PROW), which includes the road and sidewalks. In an urban context this is measured from the face of a building to the face of the building on the opposite side. The road & sidewalk widths can vary within the PROW.

At Russell, Jefferson has a wider PROW than streets like Grand, Lindell, and yes — Kingshighway! This partly explains why Jefferson doesn’t have the same “feel” as South Grand. The wider the curb to curb, the faster traffic travels. The faster the traffic, the fewer the pedestrians. Fewer pedestrians & faster traffic means businesses will focus on customers in cars, not pedestrians. This reality conflicts with adjacent neighborhoods that seek a more urban environment, like McKinley Heights whose code required Family Dollar to build more urban than usual.

Jefferson passes by many neighborhoods and political wards, with different ones on the east & west sides. With schools & residents on both sides crossing the street is important. Some intersections have pedestrian signals, others, like Russell, do not.  The east side is the McKinley Heights neighborhood & 7th Ward while the west side is the Fox Park neighborhood and the 6th ward, such fragmentation makes it challenging to get projects done.

Hopefully enough residents from both neighborhoods can convince Phyllis Young (7) and Christine Ingrassia (6) to take a closer look at Jefferson Ave.

I’d like to see the following in the short-term:

1. Stripe Jefferson to just 4 travel lanes end to end
2. Include a solid white outside line separating the right travel lane from the parking lane as MoDOT did on Gravois
3. Add pedestrian signals with countdown timers at existing signalized intersections currently lacking pedestrian signals
4. Stripe crosswalks in the more visible “Continental” pattern

In the longer term I’d like to see:

1. A detailed corridor study looking at all transportation modes (car, bike, transit, pedestrian), development patterns & potential, etc
2. A charrette to look at designing a new streetscape.

In the coming weeks & months I’ll post more about problems & solutions for Jefferson Ave.

— Steve Patterson

Commercial Property Owners Need To Consider Accessibility When Making Alterations

Being an old city we have many old buildings that aren’t yet wheelchair accessible. When a business opens up they need to be aware of the ADA, especially when spending money remodeling.

The building on the SW corner of Jefferson Ave & Winnebago St has had many establishments over the years, including quite a few since the 1990 passage of the ADA. Most changes over the years have been relatively minor. According to city records the previous owner owned the property from December 1977 to July 2007. In 2008 the current owner added a new patio out front, mostly in the public right-of-way. This was the perfect opportunity to make the first floor of this 1890 building wheelchair accessible.

When the patio was built the owner could’ve easily modified the sidewalk to provide access to the side door. It would’ve been a relatively minor add on to the patio project. To do it now will be far more costly.

— Steve Patterson

Independence & Pedestrian Access

As a disabled person, my independence is very important. I assume no matter the disability. independence is important. Thus it isn’t a surprise to me to see it mentioned in mission a statement:

St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired enhances independence, empowers individuals and enriches the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired and their families.

Yet their website illustrates auto-centric thinking, not independence:

The Society is located at the southeast corner of Brentwood Blvd. and Manchester Road. The corner of Brentwood and Manchester is approximately 2 miles south of the Galleria shopping mall. The Society’s facility is approximately 12 miles west of downtown St. Louis.

There are signs visible from all four directions at that corner indicating the “Society For The Blind Building”, with all addresses (8764 – 8798) of occupants of the building below the name. The Society’s entry is clearly marked above the main entrance.

There are reserved parking places in front of the main entrance, as well as handicapped parking next to the building.

Where’s the information from  public transit? I often encounter blind & visually impaired riders on transit.

It would help their independence if the Society made a slight modification to provide an pedestrian access route separate from the auto driveway. It would be fairly straightforward:

As you can see from the image above, building a pedestrian route would be a fairly simple proposition for them. I sent them a message a couple of days ago suggesting this. I’ll keep you posted if anything happens.

— Steve Patterson