Sidewalks on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive are for show, not actual pedestrians

Dr. Martin Luther King Drive stretches from just North of downtown St. Louis out to the city’s municipal limits. It passes through areas best described as rough and others that have seen new investment and are on the way upward.  In either case, where you have people you have pedestrians. Where you have low-income residents and public transportation you have more pedestrians than in higher income areas.  All the more reason to ensure the public rights-of-way are designed for everyone: motorist, cyclist and pedestrian.

This is my sixth year writing about St. Louis’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. at Jefferson Ave.

About 6-8 years ago part of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive (Jefferson to Grand) got a makeover – new curbs and sidewalks.  The width of the roadbed (curb to curb) was narrowed.  A good thing? Yes and no.  The entire stretch is poorly planned with respect to pedestrians.  For those traveling parallel with MLK it is fine.  But if you want to cross it can be a major challenge, only two proper crosswalks exist in the mile stretch.

So I want to show you this one mile stretch of roadway and the few places to cross. Above is our starting point at Jefferson Ave, (image at top, map).  You see the single ADA curb ramp and crosswalk markings are directed East across Jefferson.  For those seeking to cross MLK at Jefferson in a wheelchair the single ramp puts them dangerously close to passing cars.

MLK & N. Beaumont St.

A long block to the West of Jefferson is Beaumont St.  intersecting with MLK from the South. Currently Beaumont’s sidewalks are a complete mess so nobody in a wheelchair would attempt to use them.  One block away from this spot is where Lisi Bansen was struck by a car in 2005 as she wheeled in the street. Part of the idea behind new curbs, sidewalks and lighting is to make an infrastructure investment that results in increased development in the area.  So while the total resident count in the immediate area is pretty low now my expectation is rebuilt streets be more than bling for passing motorists.

Continuing West we see more streets intersecting with MLK without provisions to cross the street:

Finally at Webster Ave. (map), on the West side of the intersection, we have a crosswalk. We are over a half mile from Jefferson Ave. Between these points we should have had 8-10 places to cross MLK.

One block further West we get the point where Compton meets MLK (map).   This intersection is big and complicated by three streets and angles. Pedestrians cannot cross MLK on this side.

On the West side they can cross.  But note the places where a person going from one direction to the other is basically a sitting duck in the place where cars are turning.  The point of bringing the curbs in to the center is to slow traffic and reduce the width required to cross the street.  But for a pedestrian crossing in this crosswalk the width has not been reduced.

Continuing West:

At Francis St (above, map) we see Google Streetview managed to catch a person in the street in a wheelchair. My assumption is the person is waiting for a break in the traffic to cross MLK to the drive on the other side.

Grand is the street ahead.  Pedestrians on the sidewalk to the right are just dumped out into a large & dangerous sea of asphalt.

This beauty of a street was outsourced by St. Louis’ Board of Public Service to the civil engineering firm of Kowelman Engineering, Inc. I’d give you a link to their website but they don’t have one. Their domain kowelman.com just takes you to a default temporary page.  You can see their basic information on the city’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program website here.  Regular readers know Kowelman’s work, they are best known here for Loughborough Commons.

Engineers are great at determining water flows in the gutter, turning radii for curbs but unless their client is passionate about pedestrian issues the results will be largely superficial. In a mile stretch only two places were provided to cross MLK.  Two!  And they are one block apart from each other!  Ideally this street will continue to get new structures, residents and businesses.  That means more pedestrians – both able-bodied and disabled.    Shameful that good tax payer money was spent on such a poorly designed project.

- Steve Patterson

Local traffic can avoid the depressed lanes of I-70

Tuesday’s post was about removing a mile section of interstate highway (currently marked as I-70) after the new Mississippi River Bridge opens in 2014.  The main objection many people have is the loss of a primary North-South route if the depressed lanes are removed.  For the benefit of own of town readers let me explain the depressing depressed lanes:

Memorial Drive, depressed lanes in channel to the right of railing

Just North of the above the highway comes up to create an above grade barrier.  We have the opportunity to connect what remains of the downtown street grid to the East until it hits either the Arch grounds or, North of Washington Ave, the grid of Laclede’s Landing.  East-West traffic following I-70 will cross the Mississippi River North of the Arch rather than the South currently. An example is driving from Louisville, KY to Kansas City, MO:

Default: I-64 W and I-70 W 507 mi 7 hours 50 mins

As you can see from the current map drivers do an extra little jog to the South to cross on the Poplar Street Bridge. The new span will correct this so their route is more direct.  Drivers going from Memphis, TN to Kansas City, MO can go via I-70 through downtown:

532 mi – about 8 hours 13 mins Via I-44 E/I-55 N

But the route through downtown is not the best route for through drivers.  The suggested route on Google Maps takes motorists around the edge of the metro area:

517 mi – about 8 hours 2 mins Via I-55 N

This route is shorter in both distance and time.  Through traffic will be handled via the new bridge and existing alternate routes. This leaves local traffic as primary users of the existing North-South route separating downtown from the Arch, Mississippi River and Laclede’s Landing.  More than those passing through, locals know alternate routes to take to avoid the depressed lanes downtown.

I looked at two scenarios: 1) driving from I-55 & Bates (map) to Lambert Airport and 2) from Lemay Ferry & Reavis Barracks Rd (map) to Lambert Airport.

Scenario #1: 55 & Bates to airport:

• I-70 through downtown: 20.2 miles,  21 minutes (30 in traffic)
• 44/Maplewood/I-170: 23.3 miles, 30 min (40 in traffic)
• 55/Truman/Market/Jefferson/70: 20.3 mi, about 31 mins
• River des Peres to I-170: 20.6 mi, about 34 mins

Scenerio #2: Lemay Ferry & Revis to airport:

• I-55 N and I-70 W: 25.3 mi, 26 mins (35 mins in traffic)
• I-55 S to 270 N to I-70: 27.1 mi, 32 mins (40 mins in traffic)

As we saw with two years of construction on I-64, motorists are resilient. Between a more friendly grade-level Memorial Drive, 4th, Broadway, Jefferson and a rebuilt Tucker (North of Washington) we will have numerous North-South routes to handle our local traffic.

– Steve Patterson

Highway 40 once fed into Market St

I-64 it didn’t always slice through the edge of downtown St. Louis.  Well, I-64 did but the original Highway 40 did not.  Motorists heading Eastbound on Highway 40 ended up on Market Street.

I-64 & Market St today.

The highway just became Market Street.  No off ramp. The highway didn’t end, the pavement just continued and you were on a city street.  I had long suspected this based on the excessive width of Market Street but when looking at a 1958 aerial photograph of St. Louis.  To see the image go to historicaerials.com:  Enter 3200 Market in 63103 as the address, pan to the left and select 1958 from the available aerials.

Why does this matter?

Myself and others have advocated removing a mile of highway between downtown and the Mississippi River after the new river bridge opens in 2014.  I-70 will be routed across the new bridge leaving a stretch of the existing highway from Cass to the Poplar St Bridge unmarked.  The end point of I-44 is going to be extended so the mile stretch has a number. Highway officials know that without an assigned number it is hard to justify keeping the road. We have argued in favor of a grade-level boulevard to connect the mile stretch.

The point here is that a highway becoming a street is not unheard of in St. Louis. It is not uncommon elsewhere either.  I’ve been to Vancouver twice, both times by car from Seattle.  My first visit I was as a passenger, the second time I was driving.  Motorists leaving Seattle take I-5 to the Canadian border.  Once past customs you are on their 99.  Looks much the same except for speed limits and distances in metric.  As you approach the city you cross a river and the highway feeds into Oak Street (streetview).   Just like that.

Back in St. Louis, between 1958 and 1971 the stretch of Highway 40 (I-64) was built between Compton and the Poplar Street Bridge. The PSB opened in 1967 so that is likely when Highway 40 ceased being dumped into Market Street. We can do this again for the mile stretch downtown.  We must do this to reconnect our city to the river.

– Steve Patterson

Readers mixed on highway name, biggest group favors I-64 only

Last week’s poll asked what you thought we should call the rebuilt highway through St. Louis, officially known as I-64:

• I-64 only: 74 (45%)
• Highway 40 only: 42 (26%)
• Either Hwy 40 or I-64: 38 (23%)
• Unsure/no opinion: 9 (6% )

163 people voted and as you can see no answer received a majority vote.  The biggest group voted for the official name only, I-64.  But the second biggest group voted for the original name only, Highway 40. Not far behind are those who are fine with either name.

When I moved to St. Louis in 1990 I found the two names confusing.  I thought Highway 40 should be dropped in favor of I-64.  But now, nearly 20 years later I have changed my view.   Inner cities will always have limited-access/high-speed roads but interstates should have gone around cities rather than through them.

So, from my view, we shouldn’t celebrate I-64 cutting a swath through the center of the St. Louis region. We should downplay the interstate so outsiders just passing through the region take the highway loop around the region.  Keep the highway for local traffic.

– Steve Patterson

I-64 or highway 40?

Last week the New I-64 was opened to traffic after a nearly 2-year reconstruction project. Although officially marked as I-64 to many in St. Louis this stretch of highway has long been known as highway 40 (“farty” to natives). Two names for the same stretch was confusing when I moved here and now it is just annoying hearing news reports use both names.  The poll this week asks what the highway should be called – I-64 or Highway 40.

Whatever the name, all welcomed the rebuilt highway.  The improved exit/on ramps are getting good reviews.  Completed on time and under budget, the highway is a success.  And that is the problem.  Incentives to carpool or use transit have now just disappeared.  With driving so easy more and more will drive the highway.  This will eventually lead to the highway not being able to handle the traffic volume.  This inevitable problem won’t show up a year from now or even five years from now.  Ten years from now the big easy to travel highway won’t seem so big or easy.

I may be off on the time frame, if gas prices stay steady it may happen sooner.  On the other hand, if gas prices rise to world levels it may take 50 years for the highway to get clogged, assuming the St. Louis region picks up population at a higher rate than in past decades.

I would have spent the half a billion dollars converting the old highway to a boulevard instead.  It wouldn’t serve the same volume of cars but that would have been one of my goals.  Another would have made crossing the stretch as a pedestrian easier.

- Steve Patterson

Crosswalk located within parallel travel lane

I started this month talking about how Lisi Bansen was struck by a car as she traveled on Delmar using her manual wheelchair (post).  There she had no sidewalk available. The city finally came through with sidewalks connecting accessible apartments and a store two blocks away – four years after she died.

At the intersection of Truman Parkway & Chouteau (map) the situation is both different and the same.

• Different: sidewalks, curb cuts, crosswalks and signals are all in place.
• Same: a person is likely to get hit by a car when using these facilities as designed and built.

View looking South on Truman Parkway at Chouteau

Most of us understand that as pedestrians you cross a street parallel with vehicular traffic.  But the problem is, at this intersection, is the crosswalk in placed within the parallel travel lane. Who as the right-of-way? The motorist driving in the lane or the pedestrian within the crosswalk? Both can’t have the right to the same space.  I know who would lose in a conflict!

Looking East on Chouteau at Truman Parkway

After seeing the situation from my car and grabbing images from Google’s Street View I knew I had to see if the situation was different than it appeared.  It is different than it first appears. Not any better, just different.

Driving Southbound on Truman Parkway I pulled over out of the way just before Chouteau to observe the signals.  Traffic on Truman Parkway got the green but the pedestrian signal never got the okay to cross signal.  Then I spotted a button for pedestrians to activate the crosswalk signal.  So a person activates the signal when needed.  Problem solved, right? Not quite!

SW corner of Truman and Chouteau

I parked a block away and walked to the SW corner of the intersection to see how the signals functioned.  Approaching the corner I see the button on the signal post.

This is an old type button that a blind person wouldn’t know if it was working.  New buttons give you an audible feedback to to let you know they have been pressed.  Using the button you are facing away from the intersection.  But guess what?  The button doesn’t do anything!

In the above image is another button at the same corner.  The first is in the shadow line of this poll.  If you look you can see the don’t walk on the pedestrian signal across Chouteau.  This button does actually work, sorta.

Above I’m standing at the ramp — the place where you’d stand if you wanted to cross. The walk signal is activated in the above.  Don’t see it? Look behind the light poll and it is on for a few seconds.  Yes, the signal to walk is blocked by a pole.  The don’t walk begins to flash almost immediately.

I’d say 98% of the intersections in the city do not require a pedestrian to press a button to get the okay to walk signal.  The other crossings at the intersection to not require the pedestrian to activate the signal.  Why is this so different from others?

It goes back to that curb ramp.  After the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 the City of St. Louis was faced with thousands of intersections that needed curb ramps.  When designing from scratch each intersection would ideally get 8 ramps – two per corner to handle each direction of travel.  To save money and get more intersections in compliance the city opted for only four curb ramps per intersection.   This This meant that crossing either street you’d use the same ramp.  In your typical residential intersection this was a reasonable compromise.  Often it was the only physical way because of sewer drains or other infrastructure in the way.

The problem is that since those early days even when new intersections are created (such as the above), when curbs are replaced, the engineers seem to incorrectly think the compromise of a single curb cut per corner is adequate.  Because they only used a single curb ramp on the SW corner of this intersection they had to do the pedestrian activated signal. But the button is to far away from the point where you’d cross and as mentioned when you are at the crossing point you can’t see the signal!

On this corner there is nothing to prevent a curb ramp in a better location.  Rather than have the pedestrian activated signal that you can’t see it would have been cheaper and better to have a second ramp to pull the crosswalk out of the Southbound travel lane.

Engineers do a great job of planning for motorists but they do a lousy job for pedestrians.  Projects involving pedestrian routes should be reviewed while on paper.

– Steve Patterson

I See Vibrant Urban Streets

Three years ago I did a post, Envisioning Smart Growth, that I want to make you aware of.   In that post I featured some impressive photoshop work done by a California firm, Urban Advantage:

Before

After

My original post has two intermediate steps between the before and after.  The firm’s website has many more examples of using photoshop to create visuals to show how streets can be improved through narrowing streets, widening sidewalks, building up to the street and so on.

I often like to visit their site to see the latest projects they have done, helping their clients all over the country to visually show how proposed changes would help streets and places mature into a more urban/walkable form.  Of the many posts I’ve done over the last five years this simple post was one of my favorites.  I have thoughts of transformations like this going through my head for every corridor in the region.

My hope is we, as a city & region, will begin to think beyond what we have today and work toward what we can have tomorrow.  This requires coming together to create a collaborative vision and implementing the zoning to ensure that future efforts build toward the vision.  I invite you to look through the many examples on their site.  The photoshop work is the easy part, I also know that streets won’t transform themselves without a strong vision.

– Steve Patterson

Do People Still Care About Public Health?

It was a scene right out of a made-for-TV disaster film at the Creve Coeur Safety Fair held in mid-October on the campus of Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital. There were emergency services, helicopters buzzing overhead doing maneuvers, fire engines and fake rescues.

The real sense of urgency, however, was in the flu-shot lines just to the east of the accident re-enactors and general hoopla. There were a couple thousand people hurrying as fast as they could to stand in lines that wrapped around two large parking lots. Frantic drivers parked their cards anywhere they could and pushed children and elderly parents toward the line. Everyone wanted to get in place before the cops shut it down and turned people away. A four-hour event, the line was stopped a half hour after opening because the line already exceeded the supply of 2,000 flu vaccines.

Then we had time to wait. And wait. As the line finally crept forward and two hours slowly ticked by I couldn’t help but think that in case of a real emergency we’re in more trouble than we know. All around us there were stories of doctor’s offices that had no vaccine or pediatricians who had run out of the vaccine for infants. Rumors of cancelled flu shot clinics were verified. The next day Walgreens ran out of flu vaccine. And this was only for the seasonal flu vaccine, not the H1N1 vaccine.

So what happens if that tinge of panic becomes full scale, out-and-out panic? It doesn’t take much of an imagination to see all that anxiety transformed into something much worse.

I can’t speak for the state of public-health planning, but when a corporate citizen like BJC Healthcare distributes in excess of 30,000 free seasonal flu shots and they run out in the midst of a final mob scene, what does that say about the state of our public health? I say it means we’re failing.

While there were doubtless some freeloaders in the bunch, I’d guess many people were in the line because they were unemployed, uninsured, underinsured, very young, very old, or simply couldn’t afford the cost of immunizing their entire family. At $25 a shot, a family of six would have to invest $150 to protect themselves from just one of the serious flu threats this year. No word on how much the H1N1 vaccine will cost, but it if it’s the same, that’s $300 to inoculate a family in 2009.

The most effective public health measures are preventative. Wash your hands. Stay home if you’re sick. Don’t send sick kids to school. Get vaccinated against the evils we know. Yet how many of us who live in an interdependent way in urban or suburban environments take these precautions? We all know people who pride themselves on never taking a sick day or the fearful among us who refuse to get vaccinated. To quote Walt Kelly’s Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Urban life is intimately tied up with public health. We depend upon vaccinations, the county health departments that allocate them, and the generosity of corporate sponsors to fulfill the needs of those with substandard or no health insurance coverage. Our illogical and haphazard delivery of disease-prevention services undermines civic health.

So when I look at public investments in the community, I wonder why public health is never mentioned. We fund safety improvements to the MLK Bridge to the tune of $1.4 million to address 14 fatalities since 1998. And yet 84 people have already died in Missouri this fall (through Oct. 10) due to flu or complications of flu and 1,441 new cases of flu (seasonal and H1N1) were reported in Missouri during the week of Oct. 3-10.

I’m not saying the MLK Bridge project is frivolous, but perhaps the civic cost of not investing in disease prevention is more than short sighted, it’s a tragic loss of focus on what is most likely to protect the lives of ordinary Missourians.

While you mull on that, you might also consider that the majority of our local and regional flu pandemic planning is based on 2006 models for the avian flu. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to rethink public road investments and other “high priority” public-improvement projects and think more about public health and what will really make our communities safer and healthier.

Disclaimer: Yes, this writer belongs to the millions of the underinsured even though she pays significant amounts of money monthly to keep her healthcare coverage current. Individual health coverage often neglects simple preventative services like flu shots while maximizing out-of-pocket expenses. So, yes, I did need that free flu shot.

- Deborah Moulton

Giving Forest Park Forever’s New Director a Chance to Prove Herself

On September 21st Forest Park Forever’s new Executive Director was announced:

Forest Park Forever, the nonprofit that maintains Forest Park, named Lesley Hoffarth its president and executive director on Monday following a nationwide search.

Hoffarth, currently the I-64 reconstruction project director, will join Forest Park Forever in January.  (Source: St. Louis Business Journals)

It didn’t take long for some to question the wisdom of hiring an engineer with 20 years at the Missouri Department of Transportation to head the non-profit .  The day after the announcement:

Now, I don’t know Lesley Hoffarth, and she may be more urban-minded than I’m aware. But any head of Forest Park Forever, a group that has done great work strengthening and improving the innards of the park, should know that its edges are important too. (Source: STL Dotage)

And the day after that:

I’m keeping an open mind regarding the new President of Forest Park Forever. By all accounts the I-64 project has been managed well. I think it’s unfair to say that Lesley Hoffarth personally will favor roads and car-centric changes. However, the Forest Park Forever mission statement doesn’t emphasize the experience of the non-destination visitor or pedestrians. With all the attractions in the park you can bet that open roads and parking will play a big part in future park development. My fear is that the new Forest Park Forever President is a perfect fit. (Source: STL Urban Workshop)

Mayor Slay chimed in on Twitter with a general welcome; “Looking forward to working with Lesley Hoffarth at Forest Park Forever.”

And on Arch City Chronicle, Competence is Transferable:

FPF is a private organization which partners with the City of St. Louis to maintain St. Louis’ largest, most adored park. The organization, led by Todd Epsten, CEO of Major Brands and heavy Democratic donor, hired Hoffarth away from MODoT.

Forest Park has a lot of trails and sidewalks. But one assumes that Hoffarth’s ability to manage the reconstruction of the main highway in St. Louis, and do so ahead of schedule and with minimal disruptions, was the main selling point. She should be able to manage the Forest Park which operates as the city’s premier melting pot.

I suppose I’d join the other bloggers in their suspicion if not for one fact: I know Lesley Hoffarth.  I’m not talking about having briefly met her at a public meeting.  I’ve known her and her family for years now, spending time in their home.  I’ve seen her spend hours volunteering to help the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market.  So I’m willing to give her a chance to prove she can lead Forest Park Forever.

– Steve Patterson

The Port of St. Louis

We all know that St. Louis owes its existence to the Mississippi River.  We’re all well aware of our interstate highways and most of us are aware of the railroads that are an integral part of our urban fabric.

What turned out to be somewhat of a surprise to me, as a newcomer, was just how big a role the Mississippi continues to play in our local economy.  Part of it is “out of sight, out of mind”, part of it is the low profile many of its users keep.  But the statistics are pretty impressive  – the port extends for twenty miles, with 16 public terminals and “over 100 docking facilities”, there are no locks or dams between here and New Orleans (unlike going upriver), and it’s the “third largest inland port in the Midwest.”

Unique resources like this are where we can differentiate ourselves from our economic development competitors, and I’d like to see more of a push to do so.

- Jim Zavist