Decades ago traffic engineers converted many downtown St. Louis streets from two-way traffic to one-way traffic, 9th & 10th going north & south, respectively. The 9th/10th couplet extended north to I-70, basically serving as very long on/off ramps, cutting through the Columbus Square neighborhood. Today the former Cochran Gardens high-rise public housing project is gone, replaced with mixed income apartments. The 1980s Columbus Square condos and townhouses are still nice, the neighborhood is generally pleasant and safe. Despite the fact that 9th & 10th are no longer connected to I-70, they remain very wide one-way streets, undermining the positive investment in the area.
Looking south at 9th from CassThe St. Louis Housing Authority owns this retail building on 9th at Cass, one-way streets as a freeway on ramp aren’t good for neighborhood retail businesses.Most streets perpendicular to 9th/10th have a nice neighborhood scale. This is New Haven Ct.Looking north on 9th from O’Fallon St, lanes aren’t marked but wide enough for at least 3Looking north on 10th St from O’Fallon St, just as wide and useless as 9thLooking north on 9th from Cole
Looking south at 9th from Cole St., the dividing line between downtown and the Columbus Square neighborhoodLooking north at Cole St & 10th St
I’d like to see 9th & 10th be two-way all the way through downtown, but that’s more complicated with garage entrances/exits. signals, etc. But from Cole St. to Cass Ave it would be very simple, just some changes to the signals at Cole & Cass, the rest is signs and paint.
We ran these long on/off ramps through this neighborhood for decades, now we need to do the right thing and make 9th & 10th neighborhood streets again!
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. 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.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. 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, the bus stop should remainBriefly 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 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.
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).
Last month when I posted Chippewa Road Diet, Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Lane the project wasn’t finished, I was holding out judgement until complete. The project now appears to be complete, but I’ve only experienced it as a passenger in a passing vehicle.
March 2014: Looking east you see the westbound bike lane to the right of the orange cones.April 2, 2014: Now the bike lane is separated from the pedestrian area
I’ll take MetroBus there this Spring so I can check it out end to end using my wheelchair, paying close attention to the transitions from the sidewalks at each end. On the reverse trip we noticed lots of water covering the sidewalk on the south side of the street.
In the poll last week readers were supportive of Metro’s decision to buy used articulated buses and have them completely reconditioned. Starting in June five will replace five of the twelve regular 40 foot buses on the #70 (Grand) MetroBus route, by the end of summer all 12 will be these 60 foot articulated buses. These offer more seats, more standing room, and two exit doors.
The first of 15 articulated buses, basically a 30ft bus with a 30ft trailer.
Here are the poll results:
Q: Metro’s 60ft articulated buses are completely rebuilt 2004 New Flyer models from Ottawa, costing $430k/ea vs $825k/ea new, reaction?
Excellent, very green & frugal decision. 43 [55.13%]
June can’t come soon enough! 12 [15.38%]
Other: 7 [8.97%]
Cool, Canadian hand-me-downs
Focus on revenue making deals to increase discretionary funds for the city
Should have scheduled 2x as many busses on the route
Can’t imagine how it can make our turns.
Streetcar would be ideal
Depends on whether it’s a complete rebuild or just cosmetics
Try it out
Really, Canadian hand-me-downs? 5 [6.41%]
Rebuilt or new, too big to run on Grand 4 [5.13%]
Unsure/No Answer 4 [5.13%]
St. Louis will need to do a better job clearing snow along the route. 3 [3.85%]
Let me address some of the “other” responses. Metro got a federal grant to buy buses, running 24 rather than 12 on the route would double the operating costs (labor, fuel, maintenance) which isn’t something the grant covered. If Missouri had higher fuel taxes with part going toward transit agencies then increasing the frequency might be an option. The articulated buses are actually easier to turn than the regular 40 foot buses. Why? These are 30 foot buses with a 30 foot trailer. Drivers will get new training but I don’t think we’ll see any major issues since the #70 route is mostly a straight line up and down Grand. That said, in snow they might experience issues. I love streetcars but Grand doesn’t have the density at the ends to justify the capital expense.
I agree with the readers — this was an excellent decision and June can’t come soon enough.
Now I’d like to highlight a couple of other recent procurement decisions that appear to also be wise choices. Wheels & side glass.
Our buses have had painted steel wheels for years, but they are labor intensive to maintainThe newest order of 40ft Gillig buses and the 15 rebuilt articulated buses all have aluminum wheels. More expensive upfront but cheaper in the long run because of reduced maintenance costs.Our buses have always had exposed metal frames, the articulated buses still do because they are rebuilt. New 2014 Gillig buses have flush side glass which looks so much nicer.Aesthetics aside, a flush glass window can quickly be replaced by one person. The exposed frame glass we have had requires two people, costing more.
It looks like Metro is making very wise decisions, always looking to reduce maintenance costs. These efforts have been noticed by the industry:
The results of the program have been significant. In 2002, Metro’s bus group achieved 10,124 miles between breakdowns compared with 21,827 miles between breakdowns in 2009 – a 115-percent improvement. (Source: Top-Notch Vehicle Maintenance Programs Help Transit Agencies Excel)
So thank you to the staff at Metro for sweating the details on maintenance schedules, fretting over specifications for purchasing buses.
A proposed 6-story apartment building with a ground-floor Trader Joe’s grocery store will be announced today for the northeast corner of Grand & Lindell, temporarily the site of the Ellen Clark Sculpture Park.
This sculpture park was just a way to hold the land until the right project came along
The announcement will be made today at 4pm; speakers will include William R. Kauffman, J.D., Interim President of Saint Louis University, incoming President Fred P. Pestello, Trader Joe’s VP of real estate Brandt Sharrock, Vince Schoemehl of Grand Center, and Steve Smith of the Lawrence Group, the architects & developers of the project.
Artist rendering of proposed mixed-use building
Excellent public transit is said to be a factor for this project moving forward now, citing the busiest MetoBus line on Grand, the #70, and the proposed St. Louis Streetcar on Lindell. Other factors include the new Whole Foods going into the ground floor of an apartment building at Euclid and Pine. Like that building, this new building will have underground parking, including some for Trader Joe’s customers.
It’ll be so nice having a Trader Joe’s so close to downtown!
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