http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/index.cfm?ViewMe=16097

In very general terms, the "South County Connector" is a proposed major new roadway linking South County to central St. Louis County, as well as to interstates 55, 44, 64/40 and I-170. A specific route has NOT been selected. However, the road would be built within an area bounded by Manchester Road to the north; Hanley and Laclede Station to the west; Murdoch and Watson to the south and River Des Peres and Big Bend to the east.

I'm not sure what "Murdoch and Watson to the South" means. Murdoch is quite a way from Watson.

I'm not sure what "Big Bend/River Des Peres" to the east means either. I tried to draw a map but with such a confusing description I'm not sure where the lines would be drawn. Either way, this sounds like a new Laclede Station/Hanley road and it's a pretty full area so I'm not sure what the plan is here.

^That's like a 2 mile stretch, tops. And it's not really a "connector" as much as it is a "taker-of-drivers-from-I44-to-I64"

^ Thanks for the visual. They had talked about this maybe 8-9 years ago, with a four-way interchange at RDP and I-44. It occurred during planning of the Metro extension.

If that's the case, I really don't see a viable alternative than the one I mentioned. Half of the route is already abandoned (Deer Creek).

Hope this'll lead to better access to the Metrolink parking lot from I-44. Seemed like an oversight when they built the Metrolink extension, I'm guessing they just didn't have money for it. How does this get you to I-170 easier? I suppose via Hanley. I always wondered why it didn't make it I-44.

The place they're holding this is way far from the proposed construction area, grumble. Why not have it at Deer Creek Shopping Center? Plenty of room there!

Is this the same as what's discussed in this thread?

http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... lit=hanley
more here
http://www.hanleyroad.com/where_now/

^ I believe these are two different studies, although the success of this one probably relies on how well Hanley north of Manchester handles any extra load.

As a former resident of Shrewsbury and still a property owner I wondered if any discussion would come about from MoDOT's future planning or more appropriately, wishful thinking of a non constrained funding world, for a new I-44 interchange to replace Shrewsbury's Ave current ramp configuration or an outright replacement favoring Des Peres River road.

Pleasantly surprised that the originally concepts are still posted on MoDOT's website.

http://www.modot.gov/stlouis/major_proj ... wsbury.htm

The big drawback in my mind is losing a good opportunity to eventually develop the greenway connector along Deer Creek. Then again, some good planning could probably relocate some light industrial off the creek itself and provide some needed funding.

Holy Crap, the County is proposing a Chesterfield-Maryland Heights Connector along the Missouri freaking River! What the hell is wrong with this world?

I'm not familiar with the term "connector" in relation to streets. Can someone give me an example/definition?

ok. I would likely use this connector every day to access 44W from Hanley Southbound. It would also allow me access to what I refer to as the "black hole." The area south of 44 that is such a pain to access from the Clayton area.

Anyway we could get another Metrolink stop at Chippewa out of this? After all we got a new FPP from the Cross-County extension.
Also the interchange of Chippewa and Des Deres Parkway is an awfully tight cloverleaf. I'll be interested in seeing the ideas for there.

warwickland wrote:I've already been hearing people calling in on talk shows, suggesting that metrolink be extended in this area instead of a new roadway. It's a perfect opportunity if I've ever seen one.

Yeah I agree, but the political backlash of giving South County two Metrolink extensions in a row would not be good. Unless they actually use the money they would have used for the South County Connector for the MetroSouth extension (which is highly unlikely). I've heard that the extension for this decade will be between Westport and Northside-Southside.

Nothing, but the latest extension made a hard turn south after the Clayton station ending at Shrewsbury (which is generally considered South County). Maybe not deep South County, but other extensions will likely get priority over Metro South (rightfully so in my opinion).

I think the area would be so much better off if they could pull Metro into this discussion and incorporate a systems approach that doesn't necessarily expand the study area but recognizes the significant impacts as well as opportunities involved. City supports the connector with the tie into River Des Peres if the county agrees to the following

- Find a better way to get truck traffic to/from I-44 from the BNSF intermodal facitlity. A private public partnership could be a possibitly as the railroad rather have those containers off the train and onto the freeway or vice versa quickly as possible

- Prioritize extending the cross county line along a River Des Peres alignment to at least the next two stops. A RDP alignment certainly gives both city and county decent transit access along major arterial streets served by Metro bus service. Also, A minimial extension should be considerable less and federal funding would probably be easier to secure in these political. The big plus, Prop A secured capital funding.

Hopefully any connector will incorporate a greenway connector from River Des Peres trail to the latest piece of the Deer Creek trail as part of the package connector. Better yet, Also include a one mile extension the RDP trail to better serve Maplewood and hopefully beyond in the future

Mill204 wrote:The 1990s study that led to I-170's cancellation also ruled out building the road this current study is most likely to recommend.

I'm pretty sure one of the reasons that the I-170 extension was ruled out was the fate of a middle-class, traditionally African-American neighborhood that it would have destroyed. Such qualms were not in place for the lovely parking-lot-centered retail plaza that ultimately did wipe that neighborhood off the face of the earth.