9th Street Converted to 2-Way, 8th to be Closed During Tower Construction

On Friday the 24th those not on Jim Cloar’s email list discovered that 9th street — long a one-way northbound street — had suddenly and seemingly without notice been changed to two-way traffic where it was once one-way: from Olive north to Washington Ave. Downtown Partnership’s Cloar explains in his update to members on August 17, 2007:

As noted previously, 8th Street is scheduled to be closed curb to curb from Locust to St. Charles, possibly beginning as early as next Monday. The east- side sidewalk, next to US Bank, will remain open. The closure is necessitated by the impending start of construction on the Roberts Tower.

Also note that 9th Street will soon be converted to two-way from Olive north to Washington (it is already two-way extending north of Washington). This will help relieve traffic concerns prompted by the 8th Street closure and will serve as a test for future possible conversion of other one-way streets to two-way.

I’m a bit torn on this one. I don’t see why it is necessary to close 8th entirely for construction but I am glad to see 9th as two-way. I also don’t see why such information is limited to those on the member roles of the partnership. Did Ald. Young alert her constituents? Did the city and/or partnership place a public notice in something like the Washington Ave Greensheet? What about some signs indicating a change would take place? At least when Locust was changed from one-way to two-way they put up some extra signs for a few weeks afterwards to remind those that are not yet used to the change. The city did recently issue a press release about a temporary closing of the Compton Viaduct (read) but did not do the same for this.

… Continue Reading

SLU’s New Pedestrian Mall to be an “Urban Oasis”

Saint Louis University is continuing its quest to completely screw up the city’s historic grid system of streets by closing yet another street. From the sound of it, the city could solve our crime problems simply by removing streets. Here is the full press release:

August 21, 2007

Matt McEuen
314.977.8370
hmceuen@slu.edu

Green Space, Flowers to be Added to Medical Center
Saint Louis University soon will increase beauty, safety and accessibility to the Medical Center with a new pedestrian mall.

The area along Vista Avenue between Grand Boulevard and Carr Lane Avenue will be transformed into an urban oasis that mimics green space near the Doisy College of Health Sciences building as well as parts of campus north of I-64/Hwy. 40. The section will be bordered by the School of Medicine complex on the north and the building that now houses the department of neurology and psychiatry on the south.

Pedestrians will be welcomed to the mall [by] one of SLU’s signature red brick monuments, and beautiful landscaping, trees and flowers will provide a parklike atmosphere. Safety also will be enhanced, as city streetlights will be replaced by upgraded lighting that will shine brightly on the mall.

In addition, SLU’s design and construction team is extending the “green” attributes of the Edward A. Doisy Research Center to the mall project. By removing heat-soaked pavement and adding more grass, the area will become more environmentally friendly.

Work on the new pedestrian mall is scheduled to begin soon and has been approved by both SLU and St. Louis City. In preparation, Vista Avenue between Grand Boulevard and Carr Lane Avenue will close permanently the morning of Friday, Aug. 24, and all parking meters will be removed. Parking still will be available along other city streets, and patients visiting the neurology and psychiatry department may park in the rear of that building.

I’m not sure where to start exactly. I know, let’s start on Vista Avenue a couple of blocks to the East.

While these blocks have had some demolition, most likely by SLU buying up properties and razing the buildings, the area is solid and enjoys lovely tree-lined streets. You don’t think you are in the CWE by any means but it is pleasant enough.

However, the institutions are invading the area. Rather than use the neglect tactic offered by Paul McKee, SLU and others use the cut of their street access method to de-value an area. Vista, the last remaining street between Park and Chouteau open to Grand, is the 5th such street to be closed. Earlier projects have eroded the grid and forced traffic onto other roads. With each closed street the power and control of a single institution grows and neighbors can see the writing on the wall — don’t bother investing in the home and neighborhood because we will be next. And so it goes…

Bicyclists and others that prefer low-speed side streets are increasingly forced onto bigger and bigger roads. Motorists too are forced onto the same streets as well, adding to congestion that at one time was mitigated by a variety of choices. So now cars that might be on seven east-west streets have only two. This is why suburbia doesn’t work well — all the traffic is forced onto big roads. With each street closing we make our city less and less bike friendly. The above cyclist, with his helmet tilted too far back and not protecting his forehead, is riding northbound on Carr Lane Ave (yes, Lane + Ave). The block of Vista to be closed is the background.

Above, this woman walked along Carr Ln as did many others — all heading to the above entrance where Carr Ln used to continue north.

Again, many are headed into this “front” entrance where Carr Ln once existed. As you can see, many arrive by bike.

Rather than remaking Vista into an “oasis” it would be nice to see somebody do something with Carr Ln. Above is looking southbound from Vista. This is one block east of and parallel with Grand. Carr Ln gets considerable bike & pedestrian traffic yet it is a horrible street — rough pavement and lacking sidewalks on both sides! It seems many SLU Medical school folks are parking on Park Ave for free rather than use SLU’s oversized parking garages.

OK, I lied. Carr Ln does have a sidewalk on the west side of the street, shown above. I’m sure as people continue to walk in the street, soon to have more traffic due to the closing of Vista, they will be comforted knowing that on Vista they will have flowers and a ubiquitous SLU brick marker.

They walk in the street because the debris from SLU’s retaining wall and overgrown weeks block what little remains of the one sidewalk.

Getting closer to the corner with Vista the plants are quite large and the sidewalk area is completely un-passable. No wonder people walk in the streets. But, I can’t see SLU or the city fixing this small section of street as it is likely next on their list to close. Like McKee they have a master plan kept hidden from public view.

Vista Ave, above, is an ordinary street. Nothing special about it really other than it serves its purpose of connecting people and places. Removing the street and adding in a wide sidewalk and some greenery is not going to make it special. Improved lighting is good but without people passing by on cars or bikes the pedestrian is vulnerable. Security would be enhanced by improving lighting and having actual building entrances onto the street. This block contains 19 short-term and convenient parking spaces.

The above building is on the south side of the upcoming oasis. This modern building is attractive enough but the side facing Vista is lifeless. The side facing Grand is lifeless too —- the entrance has been closed off.

Yes, in one of the classic ways to kill a street the entrance has been cut off. Both sides of Grand have seen entrances removed for years — gradually removing people from the sidewalks.

Signs, such as the one on the above entry, encourage you to use the parking lot entrance. Nice.  Yesterday, the day before the street closing, no signs were posted alerting the public about the planned change.  It will likely come as a complete surprise to many. 
Very deliberate actions have been and are being taken which reduce pedestrian friendliness, make cycling less accessible, force cars onto fewer and fewer through streets and signal to neighbors that they are next to be forced out. All this is done in the guise of improving an area and making it better. Over a long period of time this university’s “investment” is welcomed by everyone. Clever, very clever.

Commentary on MetroLink in West End Word

This week’s edition of the West End Word includes an editorial from me on the one year anniversary of the MetroLink light rail extension to Shrewsbury. See ‘One Year On, MetroLink Fails to Impress.‘

MoDOT’s Pete Rahn on a ‘Pefect Storm’ in Transportation Funding

In the July 2007 issue of the Missouri Municipal Review the director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, Pete Rahn, has a one page commentary entitled “Perfect Storm Brewing in Transportation”, (view PDF). Rahn argues that over the next 20 years and based on the current funding formula, they’ll have a funding gap of roughly $18 billion “without future inflation factored into the calculation.” MoDot is estimating a need for $37 billion and that we’ll have “only 19 billion.” Only?

Rahn is correct when he talks about gasoline taxes being on a per gallon basis thus not “being set up to keep pace with rising costs.” True enough, material and labor costs can rise but more funding is dependent upon increased sales of gasoline which likely means either less fuel efficient vehicles or increased miles driven — both arguably bad for our society.

The disturbing part is that Rahn believes we should just continue to fund project after project, with no end in sight. He talks about their efforts to manage projects well to save money but that we have “looming financial woes” because of things like “stagnant funding” and “lagging federal funding.” Uh, no, we have financial woes because we’ve made foolish decisions over the last 50 years to build a road network that only encourages more driving and more road network. We’ve built a system that now outstrips our ability to even fund the safe maintenance of what we have in place today and yet every more miles of road and bridges are planned.

Our roads are no longer for our convenience. They are now controlling and abusing us but we are the victims in the relationship. That which we thought would be good for us turned out to be far more demanding and costly than we ever imagined when we first entered the relationship. Anytime we threaten to leave the abuser hits us with a big traffic jam or a tragic bridge collapse. Year after year we spend more and more money hoping to improve our relationship but it only gets worse. As a national I think we all have Stockholm Syndrome relative to highways and bridges.
But Rahn, an apologist for the abuser, is encouraging voters to support more funding for the road building:

It’s up to our General Assembly to decide how to fund transportation. It’s up to MoDOT to show we’re good stewards of Missourians’ money. It’s up to the voters to decide if they want to invest in their children and grandchildren’s future through the foundation of our modern economy…transportation.

Oh please, what doesn’t get argued in this city and state without pulling in the children and grandchildren. We need to hunt more deer for the future of our grandchildren, we need to pack concealed weapons for the future of our grandchildren, we need to ban abortions so that we have more grandchildren. We need to keep gays from having long-term marriages because they can’t produce any grandchildren. It is more like we need to build more roads for ourselves today but it will be up to our grandchildren to figure out how to pay to maintain them!

Sure Pete, let’s invest in transportation! Let’s invest in localized transit (aka streetcar/quality local bus service) in urban core areas. Let’s invest in making it easier and safer for Missouri citizens to bicycle. Let’s invest in high-speed rail to connect our cities and towns so that people can forgo the single occupancy vehicle. Let’s invest in commuter rail lines to get suburbanites into employment centers. Let’s invest in rail lines for shipping goods so we can remove these semis from our existing roads. But let’s not just keep building mile after mile of expensive roads and bridges and then saddling future generations with the bond payments.

City Makes Intersection Dangerous at Request of Grand Center and Saint Louis University

Crossing busy four lane streets as a pedestrian can be a dangerous proposition even at intersections with good crosswalks and proper signals. Change that intersection so that traffic doesn’t have to stop and simply turn off the pedestrian signals and you’ve created a situation just waiting for a tragic accident. This is exactly what has happened at Vandeventer and West Pine at the request of Grand Center and SLU (this is confirmed via internal email, not speculation on my part).

I’m not suggesting they intentionally sought to make the area more dangerous for pedestrians but in the quest to make it easier for motorists they’ve made it much more challenging for pedestrians and bicyclists in the area. Motorists leaving the SLU parking lots at the intersection may also have to risk an accident to find a break in traffic for a left turn.

Above, the pedestrian oasis of the former West Pine closed by SLU in the 1990s awaits the pedestrian if they can make it across the street. The traffic signal is flashing red in this direction and the pedestrian signals are unplugged. Press the walk buttons that still remain in place and nothing happens.

Look both ways before crossing. From here you can see a continual line of cars heading northbound on Vandeventer where they have a flashing yellow light allowing them to continue through the intersection. One of the two parking lots for SLU can be seen at the right.

Stepping back from the intersection we see parking lots for SLU on both sides of West Pine. Students, faculty and staff using these parking lots daily as well as people coming from the adjacent neighborhood or a bus stop must all attempt to cross Vandeventer. These pedestrian do, I suppose, have the option to go south to Laclede to cross. However, at Laclede the intersection does not have any pedestrian signals like those turned off at West Pine. Lindell, which is closer anyway, does have working pedestrian signals. Still, many campus buildings are along this pedestrian spine so having a good connection for pedestrians would make sense.

From the opposite view, above, we see three women attempting to cross Vandeventer to reach their car parked on the other side of the street. Classes resume later this month but already we see cars from SLU faculty/staff or students. As you can see, SLU has their own branding on the street sign and some traffic signals are painted blue. For more pictures click here.

It is amazing how similar this intersection is to a one in Kansas City. In KC, a university removed vehicular traffic from a street to create a pedestrian only street. However, the city failed, the court found recently, to properly control the remaining intersection and unfortunately a student was struck and killed. From the court opinion:

Opinion modified by court’s own motion on May 1, 2007. This substitution does not constitute a new opinion.
Appeal of a judgment on a jury verdict in a wrongful death action against the City of Kansas City. The plaintiffs, parents of a deceased student struck by a vehicle while crossing Troost Avenue in a pedestrian crosswalk, contended that the City negligently created a dangerous condition of property at the intersection of 53rd and Troost Avenue by installing a pedestrian crosswalk and then failing to adequately control traffic and failing to adequately warn vehicles of the existence of the crosswalk. The City contended the claim was barred by governmental immunity pursuant to Section 537.600 RSMo 2000.

AFFIRMED.
Division holds: (1) The plaintiffs showed that the City waived immunity by creating a dangerous intersection and by failing to take appropriate action to mitigate the danger to pedestrians, although the City had notice of the danger caused by the inadequate warnings and controls at the intersection; (2) The plaintiffs also showed that the death of the deceased directly resulted from the City’s negligence, and that the City remained proximately at fault, although the City’s negligence concurred with the negligence of the driver whose vehicle struck the deceased; and (3) the waiver of immunity in 537.600 is an absolute waiver of immunity, regardless of whether the City’s actions would otherwise have been protected by “discretionary immunity.”

In short, a city cannot be immune to negligence for an intersection they control. Several options exist for this intersection.

One ‘solution’ is to leave the dangerous situation exactly as it is and we simply wait until someone is seriously injured or killed before correcting the situation. As you might imagine, I’m not fond of doing nothing. The simplest and least costly solution is to take the traffic lights off flash mode and turn the pedestrian signals back on. This could be done via regular cycles or on a 3-way red flash mode so that traffic stops at the intersection but doesn’t have to wait for the light to turn green if they have the right of way. A good compromise to keeping traffic moving along Vandeventer but allowing for pedestrians is to allow them to activate the signal so that traffic stops when pedestrians are present. This, however, doesn’t help motorists, bicyclists or scooterists trying to turn left onto Vandeventer from West Pine. If we can stop traffic along Grand for a pedestrian crossing on the other end of the pedestrianized West Pine we can find a way to be as considerate on this end as well.