When Culinaria opened it was a relief having a decent-sized grocery store downtown. A problem was trying to get to the entrance at 9th & Olive. The public sidewalk along 9th was so full it was basically single file for many years.
I got the number of tables reduced — and pushed back out of the way. But the four original “dish drainer” style bike racks remained.
Bike racks that place bikes perpendicular to the building/curb lines never should’ve been allowed by the cityMay 26th 2015 I posted this image to Twitter & Facebook of the new rack being installed on 9th Street
Nearly a year later those old racks that place bikes so they narrow the sidewalk remained in place, getting used at times. On May 10th of this year I asked the manager, Adam, when the old racks would be removed. He wasn’t sure how to get them removed — they were anchored pretty well. So that day I emailed photos to people at Streets Dept and Great Rivers Greenway (did the new rack) to inquire, copying Adam so he’d be in the loop.
The old races the next day, May 11, 2016They were removed on May 16, 2016, the cones are gone now.Cyclists now have a much better rack right in front of the entrance and pedestrians have full use of the sidewalk.
It’s all about how we share the public right-of-way (PROW).
Five years ago today the ribbon was cut on a new concept in St. Louis — a bike station. A place where a bike commuter can shower and change clothes before going into his/her office.
The ribbon was cut just after 10am on April 28, 2011Then we got to go insideSecure area for storing your bike during the dayLockers and showers are in the back,
The Downtown Bicycle Station is a project of Trailnet, which is located upstairs in the same building.
The Downtown Bicycle Station offers secure 20-hour access and features over 120 bike racks, showers and locker rooms, and is ideal for bicyclists commuting to work or looking to exercise on their lunch break.
Memberships are $20/month or $150/year. Corporate memberships are $1,000/year for 10 users. A day membership is $5 — enter via Big Shark Bikes next door (limited to their hours).
Bike facilities have increased in these last five years, the data center at 210 N. Tucker includes a secure bike parking area inside the building.
Hopefully more and more young people will be attracted to high tech and other jobs downtown — walking, biking or riding public transit to/from work.
Scaffolding next to the condemned parking garage at Tucker & Locust prevented the adjacent parking meters on the South side of Locust Street from being upgraded with the rest of downtown. Until last week, the old meters remained on the South side of Locust between 11th & Tucker (12th). The North side got new individual meters last year.
New multi-space pay stations were installed on January 12thThe meters just before Tucker had long been blocked by scaffolding for the condemned parking garage, but the scaffolding came down in NovemberA few days later the old meters were gone, the new pay stations unwrapped. Locking a bike here may be a challenge given the proximity to the new pay station.
The other side of the street has new individual meters, not the multi-space pay stations added to the South. This is far from the only block that has both individual meters and multi-space pay stations. I guess having lots of one-way streets and streets that are closed for a block wasn’t confusing enough — now we have two different types of electronic payment machines to understand.
Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast:
Hurricane Katrina surprised disaster preparedness authorities when it made landfall 10 years ago, leveling entire communities and killing more than 1,800 people. The storm caused more than $100 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But for all the damage the storm caused in New Orleans, Katrina was a relatively weak hurricane when it hit the city.
In the academic community, the unexpected disaster prompted climate scientists to consider the link between climate change and storms. Since then, research has shown that climate change will increase the devastation caused by hurricanes as sea levels rise due to global warming. Some research has also suggested that climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of storms. (Time: Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse)
After watching video of the resulting destruction I knew I had to do something, but what? My solution was to buy a nearly-new Honda Metropolitan scooter, 49cc. I did so ten years ago today!
Most scooters get very high fuel economy, I regularly got between 80-95 mpg. Over the next 29 months I put about 5,000 miles on that scooter — driving all over the region. Eventually it allowed me to go car-free!
Google Streetview captured me on my scooter in September 2007
On February 1, 2008 my scooter days came to an end, 15+ hours of no help following a hemorrhagic stroke left me able to ride scooters or bicycles. I sold the scooter to a neighbor — he eventually got another with a larger engine. I also sold all my bicycles — except one.
I kept my reproduction WWII Swedish Army bike, it’s now art in our home office. Click image for Wikipedia article on Kronan bikes.
I have many fond memories of riding both the scooter and the orange bike. New poll on Sunday — have a great weekend!
Last Monday I posted a detailed look at the new semi-protected bike lane on Chestnut Street, today a follow up to a January 2009 post on the narrowest bike lane. As was the case six+ years ago, the latest Bike St. Louis map (web | Scribd) shows bike lanes on both sides of Chouteau. Some say it had bike lanes at one time, but MoDOT restriped Chouteau and did away with them. What I saw in January 2009 was two solid white lines in the Westbound direction — they remained when I visited again on July 23rd.
These lanes aren’t about bikes, they’re a way to narrow the outside drive lane from excess pavement.On the South side of Chouteau, also looking West from Tucker, we see a wide outside lane — no bike lane.
What
The map’s legend shows a solid red line as dedicated bike lanes in both directions, dotted red as shared lanes..This section of the map shows Chouteau in solid red.
Todd Antoine, from Great Rivers Greenway, told me MoDOT is starting now to resurface Chouteau, when finished it’ll be striped with dedicated bike lanes. The map available in January 2009 also showed dedicated bike lanes, I don’t know what maps in between indicated.
Given the road width I expect to see a reduction in the number of travel lanes from four to two, which shouldn’t be a problem given our light traffic. Still, it’ll likely upset those who want lots of wide lanes for cars.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
