urbanSTL

I pretty much love this idea. Whether its center or edge isn't too important to me, but a road diet is much needed. I think for significant chunks of the road you could even carve another two traffic lanes off. I don't think I've ever seen it busy enough to need four traffic lanes south of Chippewa, for instance. And it would be nice to have active sidewalks again. Give the storefronts a chance to come back. More space for sidewalk seating, and so forth. I like this road diet. And I think we could do it to much of Grand, much of Jefferson, Broadway, Gravois, Chippewa, Chouteau, Cass, Natural Bridge . . . Seems great!

A 15 month alternatives study for NS will start soon, the end product will be build NS metro link or build NS bus rapid transit

15 months? it's infuriating how bureaucratic & slow the government's planning processes are

When BRT is presented as the viable alternative expect a lot of backlash from people that voted for N-S expansion.

I expect them to say they can do BRT for half the cost of Metrolink, then ignore anybody who asks why we aren't then getting two BRT routes.

This is frustrating.

It drives me nuts when politicians don't actually work to do what the people have voted for.

I experience this way too often as a St. Louis and Missouri resident. Oh, ward reduction? We'll have aldermen try to reverse it. Oh, medicaid expansion? Nah, not until the courts make us. Oh, metrolink expansion? Putz putz putz.

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goat314 wrote: ↑

Jan 20, 2022

When BRT is presented as the viable alternative expect a lot of backlash from people that voted for N-S expansion.

Where's the backlash from how the city hasn't done basically anything to improve transit since 2017? Obviously Lyda got pushed out, but I don't think that played a role. 

^ In fairness, the city doesn't manage the transit system.  That is Bi-State and the city is just one part of the group.   So the reality is that N-S hasn't gotten anywhere because it takes the county to be fully on board

Now as far as the city goes I also see your point..  I do think Mayor Jones has an opportunity where previous mayors have failed & that has a hard concrete vision of what transit improvements within the city can improve things that would also be agreeable to County as well as doable from dollar perspective.   My two cents looking at Metrobus route map for BRT and what a few posters have commented time after time is that

Route 95 on Kingshighway  and Route 70 on Grand Ave seem like no brainers for BRT.   Great North South coverage and compliments Metrolink spine connecting with a boat load of jobs, institutions, downtown, sporting events and regional transportation..       

goat314 wrote: ↑

Jan 20, 2022

When BRT is presented as the viable alternative expect a lot of backlash from people that voted for N-S expansion.

Outside of members of this forum, I sort of doubt most people even remember voting for that. In fact, only 29586 people voted yes, less than 10% of the City's population.

Urban Review STL - Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Not Right For St. Louis

http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/2022/01/b ... -st-louis/

I appreciate both recent articles about BRT and feel perhaps one consideration not discussed in the Urban Review piece we’re the possible improvements to the street under a BRT implementation. Perhaps implementing BRT provides the environment to also add protected bike lanes, reduce lanes for cars, etc.

Anyhow, my personal preference is for everything above. I do think fixed light rail is right, particularly to reach very dense neighborhoods like Dutchtown and to provide reliable access to bigger job centers for people in North City/County. But BRT would also be a boon for other corridors. If nothing else, making the riding experience better is worth something to me. I live by Kingshighway and the experience of getting on and off the 95 with sh*tty bus stations and old busses leaves something to be desired.

I’m also from Los Angeles and recognize the traffic here is SUBSTANTIALLY less bad, but the street that tries to be most like LA traffic is Kingshighway.


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quincunx wrote: ↑

Jan 24, 2022

Urban Review STL - Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Not Right For St. Louis

http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/2022/01/b ... -st-louis/

I disagree with this. Like how does he know that BRT would only shave 6 minutes off the ride end-to-end? I support fare-free transit too but think giving the buses their own lanes would be an important investment in the transit system. I also dislike how he assumes that BRT would not benefit existing riders, that they would prefer small tweaks to the line. 

Even if Kingshighway is not congested, which is up for debate in my opinion, when I was riding the #95 this past weekend there was time lost for the bus to wait to merge back into traffic after letting people off at a bus stop. If there were bus lanes that would not be a problem.