“100% Gas Sold Here”

Some gas stations, here in Oklahoma City where I am visiting, have signs proclaiming their gas is 100% gas — not 10% ethanol. The price is higher for the pure gas and people are willing to pay it. Fuel mileage is reportedly better – enough to offset the modest premium at the pump.

The price of E85, an 85% ethanol blend that burns cleaner than straight gasoline, fell 0.5 cents to $3.089 a gallon on average, AAA reported.

Ethanol, which is made from renewable resources like corn, is thought to be more sustainable than gas, but it is less efficient.

As a result, a car that burns E85 would actually pay $4.065 a gallon to get the same mileage as a car that runs on gas, according to AAA. (source: CNN Money)

In Missouri we have an ethanol mandate which means we get a 10% ethanol/90% gas blend regardless of our preference. State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who recently lost her bid to be the Republican candidate for Governor, had advocated repealing the mandate. Engines must be specially designed to operate on E85 but normal engines can tolerate the 10% mixes.

We can’t all switch to alternate fuels as long as the alternates get a bad rap.

What a Difference 10MPH Makes

When I started driving a car again following my stroke I knew I’d miss the stellar fuel economy of my now sold scooter. So I was deliberate in getting a used Toyota Corolla as they have among the best mileage for passenger cars save for the much more expensive Prius Hybrid.

I got quite a shock when I filled up the tank on 8/2/08 — the mileage was a disappointing 18.88. The city EPA for the car is 29mpg. I was pretty sure nothing was wrong with my car. The prior fill-up had been on 7/14/08 and I had only driven 202 miles. My city driving is bad for mileage and wear & tear on the car. My trips are frequent and short.

So yesterday I drove back to Oklahoma City to visit family. I filled up the tank again on Wednesday so it would be full when I left. For that week between getting gas I drove just 50 miles. This time I managed to improve to 20.597mpg.

The drive to OKC is 500 miles. I decided to use the trip to experiment a bit. Leaving St Louis early Thursday morning I set the cruise on 60mph. This felt comfortable to me as I’m still getting used to highway driving with one hand on the wheel. In Joplin I filled up again even though I had a half of a tank left. The mileage over those 300 miles was an outstanding 43.958mpg! That was with the A/C running too.

I knew when I got to Oklahoma I’d pick up the pace a bit. While the speed limit on I-44 in Missouri is 70nph in Oklahoma it is 75mph. Many drive faster, I know I usually did in the past. So when I left Joplin I through caution to the wind and kicked it up to 70mph. By this point I was very comfortable with my highway driving and was looking at the clock and thinking how slow it was going.

When I pulled off the highway in Oklahoma City I immediately got gas again. The extra speed had taken its toll, I got “only” 32.143mpg. Lots of people would kill for highway mileage in the 30s but compared to the mileage on the first leg of the trip it was a let down. That extra 10mph made a huge difference.

Perhaps we should lower highway speed limits again?

The time difference for my trip is just over an hour. I made more stops than in prior trips just to rest and to stretch. It took me 12 hours to do what I used to do in 7. Typical of my post-stroke life, everything takes longer. On my return trip next week I may just take it easy, stop off in Tulsa to see a couple of things and spend a night in Springfield or thereabouts.

The fuel savings from driving 60 the entire distance would be about five gallons, less than 20 bucks. A cheap room along the way will certainly cost more than that. Maybe we shouldn’t lower the speed limits, allowing people to decide for themselves what is the best speed/time/mileage ratio for themselves? I do think if more people knew the potential savings we’d see a natural reduction in travel speeds.

But that isn’t going to help my city mileage. All the short trips, lots of stop signs and poorly timed traffic signals are just not ideal conditions for conventional cars. Hybrid’s with regenerative braking thrive in these conditions — getting extra juice from all those braking moments.  For now I’ll just try to keep my driving to a minimum and use my plug-in electric (power wheelchair) for those local trips.

Streetscape & Tudor Building Bridging the Gap

The Sporting News building at 2020 Washington was converted to lofts in 2004. But it has always felt a bit disconnected to the main loft district to the East. I was the listing agent on one of the early resale units there in 2005 (owner moved). Since November live three blocks east of the 2020 building on Locust — the block South of Washington Ave.

A decade ago when planning was underway for the loft district the decision was made to narrow Washington from four traffic lanes plus two parallel parking lanes. This allowed sidewalks to be widened and to “calm” down traffic. This first phase was completed about eight years ago in the stretch of Washington Ave between Tucker (12th) and 18th. A lot of development is also East of Tucker. But out where I am at 16th you feel like you on the edge.

The Schlafly Tap Room down Locust at 21st has been open since 1991 (see the history of their building). For many years it was one of those drive-to locations as it was the only thing going on in the area.

Lately I’ve noticed something I hadn’t seen before, many more people walking West of 14th and certainly West of 18th. Besides more residents in places like 2020 Washington, the Majestic Stove, The Packard Lofts, and the Motor Lofts I think the recently completed Tudor building and parking & lane changes West of 18th are making a difference.

The Tudor building takes up the entire block between 19th & 20th and Washington to Lucas. For many years it was used as a haunted house. For the most part it sat vacant.

Other buildings further West had been done but this one took a while. From the Business Journal in June:

Paric Corp. has completed the $16 million renovation of the Tudor Building, which covers the 1900 block of Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis, into lofts and retail space.

The 104,820-square-foot project includes 64 residential loft units and 14 street-level retail spaces. The former Wrought Iron Range Co. building had been vacant for almost 20 years.

Although the two-story facade may fool you, this is a big building. And a big project.

Today the building is renovated and commercial tenants are starting to open. But look at how the cars are parked — on an angle rather than parallel. As part of this project Washington Ave from 18th to 21st went on a diet. Like the blocks to the East, these blocks are now two lanes — one in each direction. Without the budget to do a major overhaul of the streetscape, angled parking was employed as a strategy to calm traffic. Before I go any further I should disclose that I was part of the design team on the streetscape project, so I am biased.

We spent quite a bit of time last year walking these blocks and trying to arrive at the best configuration for the lanes, crosswalks and parking. Coordination with Metro for bus stops was also important —making sure that buses had enough space to pull out and around cars now parked at an angle.

As someone that spent time here before and after the change I can tell you, as a pedestrian, the area is greatly improved by having only two lanes of traffic rather than four. Would I have preferred wider sidewalks and parallel parking? Sure, but that takes serious cash to address manholes, drainage and such. For this project we needed the best budget solution. I think it works well.

The Tudor’s ribbon cutting is Friday at 4:30pm. I’ll be in Oklahoma so I’ll miss the festivities including the “Tudor Street Fest” which runs from 5pm to 10pm with an after party at Fifteen located a block South at 19th & Locust.

Streetscapes changes need not cost millions and take years to complete. We all love the finished product but we just don’t have the budget to give every block on every street a fancy makeover. But reducing the impact of through traffic doesn’t have to cost a lot — paint on asphalt is cheap (well relatively anyway).

With the G.W. Lofts at Washington & Jefferson nearing completion this area is only going to get better. Buildings remain to be renovated and there is certainly vacant land available for new construction. Given our current economy its hard to say how long it might take. For me, as long as we keep making progress I’m good.

Urban Infill Apts Nearing Completion

Initial construction on the “luxury apartments” at 3949 Lindell (map) was destroyed by an arsonist in June 2007 (see post). Since that time crews have been busy rebuilding.

This stretch of Lindell between Vandeventer on the East and Whittier on the West is an urbanist’s hell of auto-centric shopping centers and fast food joints. So this project stands out as an exception to the rule as it is an urban mixed-use project built up to the sidewalk rather than set back behind a large surface parking lot.

While I have some minor issues with the building’s architectural detailing the massing is excellent. Three floors of residential set on a base of urban storefronts with structured parking concealed behind — an excellent formula that needs to be repeated as often as possible around the city. It needs to be done out there in the burbs as well.

This location, just west of Saint Louis University, is ideal for such a project. The well-to-do undergrads will rent these quickly.

Such mixed-use projects are also needed around our light rail stations. Density loves transit and transit loves density. Storefront retailers love both because that gives them foot traffic in front of their shop windows.

Decades ago building apartments over retail was the norm. Newer versions like this include costly items like a parking garage and elevators.  If a streetcar ran up & down Lindell every 10 minutes this project could probably have skipped the garage or at lease reduced its size and cost.

What is refreshing about this project is that it goes way beyond the minimum requirements.  Of course the city has no urban requirements.  Developers can build all the auto-centric shlock they want because our leaders can’t be bothered to set out an urban vision for our main corridors.

The area is slowly coming back around.  Lindell Marketplace, just to the West of the Arby’s that is next door to this project, made a major improvement by opening a long mostly blank wall along Lindell by punching in new street-facing storefronts. Over the next couple of decades, with the right guidance (form-based zoning), the parking lots of Lindell Marketplace will get infill projects like the one at 3949 Lindell.  It may well happen without the mandate via zoning but that is leaving too much to chance.

St Louis Removes Josephine Baker

Well not the person, she is long dead. however, a block-long section of Josephine Baker Blvd between Washington and Locust is being removed (map link), presumably for an undisclosed parking plan for Saint Louis University:

In June of last year myself and others covered the razing of the historic Livery building at the NW corner of Locust & Josephine Baker. I’m sure now that vacating this street was part of the bigger plan that is slowly being revealed.

Architect Paul Hohmann over at Vanishing STL does an excellent job covering this topic in his piece called, “SLU Creates Superblock Between LBD & Grand Center, Hinders Development.” Here is a snip it of his piece:

The simplicity and flexibility of the urban street grid is what separates the City and its inner suburbs from post WWII suburbs which are more often than not defined by cul-de-sacs and overcrowded collector roads. Unfortunately, the City of St. Louis does not recognize the inherent value of it’s streets and often gives away, yes, gives away these assets to private hands.

This is the case in Midtown where SLU has persuaded the City to vacate Josephine Baker between Locust and Washington creating a superblock about 870 feet long. This is twice as long as today’s city planners recommend to create a walkable environment in an urban area. Longer blocks also increase vehicle travel speeds due to the distance between intersections.

Paul is right, of course, to raise alarm about the continual loss of streets and their sidewalks.

To the immediate South is the Drake Plaza apartments which were likely renovated in the 1980s. At that time the street grid in this vicinity was butchered to give the place gated parking. Both Josephine Baker and Leonard were cut off at Locust. Another street used to angle between the buildings.

But in an interesting bit of irony these closed streets around the Drake Plaza are causing problems of connectivity for SLU. The image above is looking North at what used to be Josephine Baker Blvd (anyone know the prior name of the street?) before being closed for Drake Plaza parking. So SLU buys the building next door and turns the side parking lot into basically a private street.

At least it is nice to see we are coming full circle and having to add back in connectivity in places.   I’m concerned about the accessibility in the area with all these changes.  This gives folks in wheelchairs fewer crosswalks.  We’ve been messing up the street grid for decades so this is just more of the same, and all for parking!

But good thing the arena is built — my academics experience at SLU this year should be so much better than before.