urbanSTL

I would imagine what happened in California a couple of days ago is a much bigger threat -- car accident with fire. 1/2 the cost on the Lindbergh tunnel was spent on "security" and "safety" precautions. It is really nice to have a lid - but it becomes prohibitive at some point ~ especially for aesthetic or development reasons alone.

Er, Grover , not sure if you were talking to me, but yes, I'm serious. I would rather keep 40/64 above ground. I love driving that stretch and enjoying the sites of the City, including the Park, the Science Center, the highrises in the CWE, and even the Arch in the distance. I'd hate driving through a tunnel and missing all of that.



Maybe we could add a few small-scale bridges across it to provide better access to the Park.

^ It's just that Forest Park is there for people to use, not look at - especially for people in cars to look at. I'm not saying that you don't/can't enjoy the drive, but there's no way this stretch should be left open simply because drivers would like it that way.



Also - I'm not sure (it's crazy to think) that 40 along FP couldn't be covered because of a possible terrorist attack. Anyway, this probably shouldn't become a serious conversation because 40 is not going to be covered. I do wish, as you mention Framer, that the bridges providing access to FP would be made w-i-d-e! Of course there's added cost, but a 15 ft wide pedestrian sidewalk in addition to the street (Tamm for example) would be exponentially better than the freakin' standard sidewalk that people trumpet as exceptional pedestrian access!

^ The Big Ditch? (with a lid)



Let's be honest, it's more likely that 40 would be covered through Ladue - property values are higher.

^ Not sure I understand your question. Highway 40 (synonomous with I-64 in St. Louis) is being rebuilt from Kingshighway - the eastern end of Forest Park to I-270.

Frankly, I wish we were progressive enough as a region to realize the mistake we made by ramrodding multilane freeways through urban neighborhoods, and turn the portion of Highway 40 east of Interstate 170 into an at-grade parkway.



The parkway replacement for Highway 40 would still provide four through lanes of traffic from Richmond Heights into downtown, and it would offer a clean slate for development that could unite neighborhoods severed by the highway decades ago along with great access to the attractions of Forest Park. It could still be designated as U.S. Highway 40, while the Interstate 64 designation could be given to the portions of Interstates 270 and 255 that run through west and south St. Louis County, and Monroe and St. Clair counties in Illinois. Interstate 74 joins Interstate 465 around Indianapolis instead of passing through the city- we could do the same with Highway 40 (and ideally, all of our limited access highways inside the 270/255 loop).



I'd love to see the portions of Interstates 44, 55, and 70 inside of Interstate 270 replaced by at-grade parkways as well, but I've engaged in enough senseless daydreaming for now...

MoDORC strikes again!

64 countdown … unplugged

By Ken Leiser



Three signs counting down the days, hours, minutes and even seconds until the completion of the Highway 40 (Interstate 64) project had a brief but perplexing run.



The Missouri Department of Transportation turned off the digital signs this week just four days after they turned them on. The reason: Too many passing motorists found the signs a bit confusing. When all the numbers were glowing, for instance, they looked more like a Social Security number than a long-range countdown.

More here



1. Said signs caused several backups yesterday because folks were slowing down to read them.



2. More to the point, doesn't MoDORC have anything better to spend money on than "national debt" signs whose sole purpose is to tell us that it's more than two years until the damn thing is finished?

If the signs are the biggest boner MODOT pulls with this project then we should all sing their praises. So far the building/demolition of the project seems to be going very well and on time too. At least this was just a stupid PR stunt and not a project SNAFU.

The countdown sign was a lot better than Z107.7 will ever be. :maddown:



Yep, another wonderful waste of money. How about some signs reminding the idiots out there that the highway really is closing. But like Grover said, things could be a lot worse.

So is MODOT still adding lanes to 44 and 70? I am not so sure about 70 but I haven't seen them on 44. I know that they have been doing something out there but really haven't seen anything than the 4 lane in the one direction. I still take 40 out to 270 traffic was backed up about 11am on 44 and a slight back up on 40. They had the right lane closed and clearing the trees out between McKnight and Clayton.

^Yes. the extra lanes on 70 are about done. 44 won't be done until the middle of next month.

A: I like the design, but think it would be great to have recreated some of the distinctive work present on earlier (1930's) construction. However, it's all about $$ (great answer from the builder on this one). If much more was spent on ornamentation there would be a whole lot of b*tching about it. In fact, I wish they would take all the money spent on the "chevrons" and widen every sidewalk associated with the project by a meager 2 feet!



B: it's NOT safe to assume that pedestrians will be accomdated!

Regardless of personal opinions, I believe we can agree that these bridges are certainly an improvement, along with the project as a whole, so we cannot be all that dissapointed right?

^ true - the original bridges were quite nice, but with the disrepair and enormous signs that now adorn many, their attractiveness lies more in the 1940's pictures than what they are now.

Well even these new ones will have to comply with interstate signage regulations. Building them high enough should keep the yellow height clearance signs away, but I imagine we'll see a few green and whites.

I would love to see the first bridge inside the City limits have "St. Louis City" or something of the sort engraved in the bridge when driving east on 40. I think that would be pretty cool. They have shown that they will be adding street names to the bridges (Spoede above^). Why not something to honor the city?

Tysalpha wrote:Well even these new ones will have to comply with interstate signage regulations. Building them high enough should keep the yellow height clearance signs away, but I imagine we'll see a few green and whites.

True. My point is that the signs cover a larger part of the bridges than they once did, making the design somewhat less important - or at least the huge signs cover some of what made the old bridges very cool.