No longer bus-averse

I no longer have issues with taking a bus if that is that is the only public transportation choice I have.  This was not always the case with me.  I still prefer streetcars to the bus but many times the bus is better than a private car.

Before moving downtown I would sometimes bike a few blocks over to the #40 Broadway bus to catch a ride downtown.  I was nervous the first time I used the bike rack on the front of the bus but I quickly got used to it.  Taking the bus downtown allowed me to arrive sweat-free.  Returning home I could bus or bike back, depending on my level of energy.

Once I used a combination of modes for a meeting in Granite City, IL.  I drove my only vehicle,  a 49cc motor scooter, to MetroLink station for a light rail train across the river to East St. Louis where I got on a Madison County bus to Granite City, IL.

After I moved downtown I had to attend a breakfast meeting on Delmar in the Loop. It was cold and rainy and I didn’t feel like riding the scooter.  I had two choices via public transit.  Light rail on MetroLink or the bus.  While I prefer rail transit, the bus was closer to my house and final destination: I walked two blocks from my loft to catch the bus and it dropped me off across the street from my destination.  Learning the bus routes near my loft helped me understand where I could get to via the bus.

I’ve ridden buses on vacation as well. My last trip to New York City I rode the bus from the airport into Manhattan.  In Seattle last year I rode a bus into downtown and back from the Capital Hill neighborhood.  In October 2009 I tried out the new downtown circulator (see post).

The bus serves serves a function just as other modes do.  The private car isn’t going away but neither is the bus.  Neither should go away.  What we all need to remember is we need the option of various modes in order to make a choice.  Too much of our region has no choice at all — if you want to leave your house it will be by private automobile.

– Steve Patterson

What the passage of Proposition “A” can mean for the St. Louis region

Tuesday April 6, 2010 voters in St. Louis County will decide the fate of Proposition A — a 1/2 cent sales tax to match the same tax previously approved by voters in the City of St. Louis.  Revenues would be used to fund existing operations and expand service of our regional public transit.

I decided to put together list of what “A” can do for the region:

1. Accelerate: strong transit will accelerate the trend toward filling in the core rather than pushing outward at the edges.  This helps ensure those folks who moved to the edge won’t be surrounded by new construction.
2. Accessible: public transit makes going from home to work accessible to many.  This applies to those of us with disabilities as well as those without access to an automobile. Getting our citizens to work, school is important for a strong region.
3. Accomplish: dedicated funding is critical to a healthy  transit transit system.  Prop. A will accomplish the goal of creating a dedicated funding source for operations.
4. Achieve: St. Louis will be closer to achieving the type of transit system a strong region needs to have to compete in the 21st century.
5. Activate: transit helps create activity.  Transit riders are often pedestrians on part of their total trip.  Their activity creates a buzz around stations & stops.  More transit and more riders that will activate our sidewalks.
6. Adjust: we will adjust our ideas about transit and what it means to the region, even if we don’t use the system ourselves (or just rarely).
7. Affirm: passage will affirm our commitment to a regional transit network.  This affirmation will send a strong message to companies and people considering the St. Louis region as a future location.
8. Affordable: as we saw when service was cut back people couldn’t get to work.  Employers need their employees at work.  Our region can’t afford to not have a functioning transit system.  We can’t afford to not pass this tax.
9. Attainable: with dedicated funding Metro can attain a decent level of service for the region through both rail & bus transit.
10. Augment: we will be able to augment the current system to better serve the core of the region, including St. Louis County.

For more information the on Proposition A see the Yes on A website at moremetrolink.com.

– Steve Patterson

Test run for removal of mile stretch of I-70

For a while now myself and like minded individuals have been pushing the concept of removing a mile stretch of what is currently marked as I-70.  This stretch runs from the Poplar Street Bridge and Cass Avenue, creating a barrier between the city and the Mississippi River to the East.

Once the new Mississippi River Bridge opens in 2014 this stretch of road will only serve local traffic.  A tree-lined roadway would better serve the needs of the city.  In a few days we will get the chance to see what life without this stretch of highway might be like:

ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and its contractor Fred Weber, Inc., are scheduling two weekend closures of Interstate 70 in St. Louis City in February to knock down two bridges over the interstate.
The department will close the interstate, and all ramps, between the Poplar Street Bridge and St. Louis Avenue.
MoDOT currently plans to close the interstate the weekend of February 5-8 to knock down the Cass Avenue Bridge and close the interstate the weekend of February 19-22 to remove the Madison Street bridge, weather permitting. The interstate will close at 8 p.m. on each Friday and will be reopened no later than 5 a.m. on the following Monday for each weekend closure. The work is being done in conjuction with constructing the New Mississippi River Bridge to relocate I-70 across the Mississippi River.
Additionally, the department will close I-70 reversible lanes on February 3 and keep them closed until late April to allow crews to construct the middle portion of the Madison Street Bridge over the interstate.
To get around the interstate closure, drivers must use a combination of Broadway Street, Washington Avenue and Memorial Drive. The detour around the work will be marked. However, since much of the detour is on roads with signals, drivers should make every effort to avoid the area, if possible.
“If people don’t use alternate routes to travel to downtown, the detour for the I-70 work will take a long time,” said Gregory Horn, P.E., project director for the Mississippi River Bridge project. “We are encouraging people to avoid the area by using other routes. For example, people can use the Chain of Rocks Bridge on I-270 or the Jefferson Barracks Bridge on I-255 to get between Missouri and Illinois, use I-270 to get around St. Louis County, or use I-64 to get into downtown St. Louis.”
An estimated 70,000 vehicles travel on I-70 through downtown St. Louis each weekend.

Here is the official map of the detour:

Furthermore:

MoDOT to close reversible lanes to build Madison Street bridge
(Department plans to close reversible lanes for two months)
ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and its contractor Fred Weber, Inc., will close the Interstate 70 reversible lanes February 3 for two months as part of constructing the Madison Street bridge over the interstate.
Closing the reversible lanes will help crews construct the middle support structures needed for the
bridge.
The work is being done in conjunction with constructing the new Mississippi River Bridge to relocate I-70 across the Mississippi River.
After the lanes reopen in late April, they will remain open until about mid-June before MoDOT crews need to close them for another six weeks to construct the St. Louis Avenue bridge.

Interestingly the reversible lanes haven’t reversed in more than a year.  These two center lanes of I-70 were originally Eastbound the morning and Westbound in the afternoon.  But for a while they have been Eastbound 24/7.

So we will soon see the impact on traffic as it is detoured on weekends.

– Steve Patterson

St. Ann’s speed camera begins February 1st

Starting Monday February 1st motorists speeding along Ashby road in front of Hoech Middle School (3312 Ashby Rd) will receive tickets from a new speed enforcement camera:

ST. ANN, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) – It’s a first of its kind effort in Missouri to try and cut down on speeding in school zones. St. Ann, Missouri, is putting up a camera to catch people who speed through a school zone. But not everyone is thrilled with the idea. The St. Ann program is similar to the red light cameras- offenders will be mailed a ticket with a picture of the speeding car and a fine.

[Police Chief] Schrader says speeders will receive a flat fine of at least $100, but he says no points will be assessed on a driver’s record if they’re caught.

That fact upset attorney Chet Pleban, “They’re a bad thing in my opinion.” Pleban has been an outspoken opponent of red light cameras and he’s against the speed zone camera as well.

Pleban says without assessing points, the program is nothing more than a money maker for St. Ann with big brother watching. “It’s a revenue producing thing that I think is in the long run dangerous,” explained Pleban. “Where does big brother stop? Where does big brother stop monitoring us under the circumstances for revenue production?”

The camera will be in use 24/7-so even when the school zone speed limit is not in effect, drivers breaking the normal speed limit will still get tickets.  [Source: Camera Will Soon Be (sic) Catch School Zone Speeders]

Just as numerous municipalities now use red-light cameras I anticipate we will see more of these throughout the region.  But is this a good thing?  Some would argue the idea is too big brother while others argue safety is the primary concern.  What are the alternatives?

A couple of years ago I was in a car with my brother in Edmond OK as we drove entered a school zone in front Cimarron Middle School (3701 South Bryant Avenue, Edmond, OK).  South Bryant, like Ashby Rd, has four lanes of traffic but the method of denoting the school zone was the most effective I had ever seen.  Small runway lights in the center line flash during the school zone period.  The following video from the City of Edmond shows the flashing in-road lights as well as other measures they use to improve the safety of their streets (the intro is cheesy but stick with it).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4kHXl5nORk

Edmond’s solutions are a good alternate strategy to using cameras to ticket speeding vehicles.

– Steve Patterson

Recovery Act high-speed rail announcement in St. Louis

Yesterday, across the country, announcements were being made regarding $8 billion in federal grants from the Recovery Act.  One of those announcements took place in St. Louis.   I was there for the announcement and captured the entire press conference on video so you can view the entire event.

#1 – Opening with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Dept Admin Karen Rae (Dept Admin Transportation Dept):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv-_Ol3yVtA

#2 – Dr. Ed Montgomery (White House Exec Dir for Auto Communities and Workers):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPtfGJw9hg

#3 – U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-3rd):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Pml8wxnmo

#4 – Question  & Answer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_lqGfRz0RM

#5 – Missouri Senator Joan Bray (D-24):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqdKuMR8BPI

Another press conference will be held today (Friday 1/29/2010) at the Amtrak station in Alton IL.  It will be years before the St. Louis-Chicago connection is complete but as was said this $8 billion is only a down payment.  The federal government subsidized the interstate highway system for decades while ignoring passenger rail. Chicago will be the center of a network of high-speed rail lines, our proximity is good.

“A White House official visited St. Louis today to announce $1.1 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail between St. Louis and Chicago and another $31 million to upgrade passenger rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City.” (St. Louis-Chicago high-speed rail gets $1.1B in stimulus)

Improving city-to-city rail transit will increase the ability for someone living in the St. Louis region to go car-free.  Residents on both sides of the Mississippi River can take MetroLink to the St. Louis Amtrak station and travel to Chicago and beyond.  I look forward to taking a high-speed train to Chicago.

– Steve Patterson