^ Agreed. Actually one of the subtle things I liked about the old bridges was the sweeping, open pillarless design many of them had. I guess that's not possible anymore to meet current earthquake standards.
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JMedwick wrote:Looks like all the new overpasses (at least those west of Brentwood) will look pretty similar to the Compton Avenue one.
I was really hoping that *ALL* the bridges would look like the Compton Avenue one...Why not put up TAMM AVE on the bridge? I think that would look awesome.
Oh well...maybe Ed Boxx can do some "creative" graffiti to make it look like MODOT engraved the street names on the St. Louis bridges.
The other two webcams are no up. One at 170 and the other at Clayton/Warson. However, the Kingshighway one is broken at the moment. Just click on the pull down menu to change
Webcams
Webcams
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Driving on 40 the other day I noticed that the Kingshighway bridge seems to have a little extra style to it. It was hard to see in the rain/fog/dark, but at each end there seemed to be a larger concrete pillar that made the whole structure look more substantial. I may have been hallucinating, but it didn't look bad at all.
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Well if nothing else can be said, at least we are provided with a pretty nice webcam on downtown Clayton.
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Grover wrote:Driving on 40 the other day I noticed that the Kingshighway bridge seems to have a little extra style to it. It was hard to see in the rain/fog/dark, but at each end there seemed to be a larger concrete pillar that made the whole structure look more substantial. I may have been hallucinating, but it didn't look bad at all.
Cool. Hopefully MoDOT or the city will add some nice landscaping since the new interchange is going to have a smaller footprint than the old one. That way, this area would still look aesthetically pleasing even if the finished interchange turns out to be standard issue.
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Well, no surpirse that the sky is falling in McClellan's world . . .
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/c ... enDocument
Road to sanity will be clogged when 40 closes
By Bill McClellan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/15/2007
Bill McClellan
(P-D)
The shutdown of Highway 40 is not going to be as bad as you think. It’s going to be worse.
Especially if you’re a driver who has tried to plan ahead and check out alternative routes. Maybe you have thought, “Not great, but not too bad.” Well, think again. Those alternative routes, which might seem viable now, are going to be clogged when 40 shuts down.
That understates it. All the alternative routes have intersections with stoplights. People talk whimsically about coordinating the lights, as though we’ll be able to zip east and west without ever hitting a red light. In the unlikely event that were to happen, what about the people heading north or south?
Imagine an endless line of cars inching along toward an intersection. Drivers are going to be so intent on getting through that intersection that they’ll pull out into the intersection on yellow. Then the light will go red and there they’ll be. Meanwhile, the people who have the green light won’t be able to enter the intersection. They’ll lay on their horns. They’ll make rude gestures at the people stuck in the middle, who will make rude gestures in return.
Think of a hot summer afternoon. A hundred degrees and high humidity. An old car overheats, and what then? Imagine the people behind the stalled car having to merge into the one functioning lane. The drivers in that lane are hot and harried themselves. You know what will happen. Somebody will refuse to allow somebody to merge, and that person will try to bull his way into the lane and bam! A fender bender. What then? The police aren’t going to be able to respond. There will be no emergency lanes.
Or think of an icy morning. Perhaps next month. What are we going to do when somebody slides into somebody else?
People will be sitting in their cars in a line that stretches for miles. You know that somebody will be low on gas. That person won’t want to shut his car off because of the cold. But if he runs out of gas, what then? How will anybody ever move?
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/c ... enDocument
Someone making his own I-64 on-ramp from Eager/I-170 last night captured on the webcam:
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1. If they can shut down half the highway this year and finish it, and half next year and finish it, why didn't they award the job to two different companies -- one for each portion -- and finish it all in one year?
2. Let's start a rumor that MODOT will allow a bicycles only day on Saturday January 5th. Anyone can ride their bicycles on Highway 40 all day since traffic is gone and work hasn't really started yet.
2. Let's start a rumor that MODOT will allow a bicycles only day on Saturday January 5th. Anyone can ride their bicycles on Highway 40 all day since traffic is gone and work hasn't really started yet.
Ask all the Highway 40 reconstruction questions you want this afternoon over at STLtoday.com:
http://www.stltoday.com/discussions/new ... D121207162
http://www.stltoday.com/discussions/new ... D121207162
Took the opertunity this afternoon to throw a few questions out at MODOT about the 40 project.
Given past disucissions about the real need for the highway, I thought this was interesting:
Read More
Given past disucissions about the real need for the highway, I thought this was interesting:
JMedwick: The highway shutdown had increased traffic on other roadways and increased commute times, however, not to the degree expected. This is all great news and proves the impact of small changes like flex-work time and well timed signals.
That said, because the region has taken so well to the loss of 40, what does this mean about the necessity of rebuilding the highway. Clearly the aging bridges and roadbed needed replacement, but did St. Louis really need to rebuild the highway as a highway? Wouldn't a four lane parkway design have worked just as well?
Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: It is an interesting point, but difficult to say. US Route 40 is the oldest highway in St. Louis dating back to the 1930s. There is not question that it needed to be rebuilt. We are replacing it with a modern highway built to last another 40-50 years. In the future, we will be in need of major repairs to I-44, I-70, I-55 as their turn comes to be the oldest highway and it is good to have the redundant road systems. We need all of our interstates to make us the most viable, economically growing community possible.
Linda Wilson
Read More
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What 40 closing?
SOURCE
Despite the ongoing $420 million reconstruction of Highway 40, 89 of 151 companies surveyed in January by AAIM Management Association reported no significant impact on operations, and 37 reported only moderate impact, said Ray Edwards, AAIM president.
SOURCE
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Since recent traffic analysis showed I-44 traffic is actually down post-40, I believe those dangerously narrow lanes should be put back to their original configuration.
I agree.
I was listening to the radio the other day, and a non talk radio dj suggested we just get rid of 40 since traffic is down everywhere. Seems like we are not the only ones with this idea.
I was listening to the radio the other day, and a non talk radio dj suggested we just get rid of 40 since traffic is down everywhere. Seems like we are not the only ones with this idea.
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Adding a lane to 44 and 270 does alot to keep the extra congestion not as noticeable. All the new traffic lights throughout the county help as well.
Appearance are just that, the surface. We should probably actually pat a few local officials on the back for actually mitigating the would be calamity so successfully, and also your fellow neighbors for using forethought. However not having shoulders is not a permanent option for an interstate, anywhere.
Top say we dont need 40 simply because "things appear fine" is classic STL.
Appearance are just that, the surface. We should probably actually pat a few local officials on the back for actually mitigating the would be calamity so successfully, and also your fellow neighbors for using forethought. However not having shoulders is not a permanent option for an interstate, anywhere.
Top say we dont need 40 simply because "things appear fine" is classic STL.
TheWayoftheArch wrote:Top say we dont need 40 simply because "things appear fine" is classic STL.
I highly doubt "classic STL" would ever say that we don't need another highway.
Actually, today was a perfect example of why we need a completed I-64/Highway Farty.
Traffic is fine if everything is perfect - no accidents, closings, or inclement weather. On a day like today, however, when conditions are less-than-ideal, there's no outlet - no place else for 50,000+ cars to go except 270. My commute home, which normally takes 40-50 mins from O'Fallon to Affton, took an hour and forty-five minutes today, and I left at 3:15 pm - before the worst of the rush hour traffic hit. No accidents; just volume constrained by slick conditions.
Yes, I know I should expect to go slower when it's snowing/sleeting/whatever. but I've been driving this for roughly five years since my company decided to expand in the exburbs, and I've never had a commute that long before.
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Traffic is fine if everything is perfect - no accidents, closings, or inclement weather. On a day like today, however, when conditions are less-than-ideal, there's no outlet - no place else for 50,000+ cars to go except 270. My commute home, which normally takes 40-50 mins from O'Fallon to Affton, took an hour and forty-five minutes today, and I left at 3:15 pm - before the worst of the rush hour traffic hit. No accidents; just volume constrained by slick conditions.
Yes, I know I should expect to go slower when it's snowing/sleeting/whatever. but I've been driving this for roughly five years since my company decided to expand in the exburbs, and I've never had a commute that long before.
-RBB
You wouldn't actually get rid of I-64 though. It would be a parkway, like Forest Park in the city. 3 lanes each way with a landscaped median.
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^ It's just too bad that federal, state, and local governments don't see it that way. 
Yeah, because an abundance of highways leading out of the region's core has worked out really well for Greater St. Louis so far, hasn't it Linda?
Linda Wilson of MoDOT wrote:We need all of our interstates to make us the most viable, economically growing community possible.
Yeah, because an abundance of highways leading out of the region's core has worked out really well for Greater St. Louis so far, hasn't it Linda?
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...I know the weather was obviously a factor yesterday, but was weather the only reason that 64 was a parking lot yesterday? I left work at Creve Coeur heading home to Fairview Hts and it took me 3 hours. I work on Olive so I always take Olive to Skinker to 64 to home. It took me an hour (usually 25-30 mins) to get from CityPlace to Skinker, then 2 hours to get home (usually another 25-30 mins).
ThreeOneFour wrote:^ It's just too bad that federal, state, and local governments don't see it that way.
Linda Wilson of MoDOT wrote:We need all of our interstates to make us the most viable, economically growing community possible.
Yeah, because an abundance of highways leading out of the region's core has worked out really well for Greater St. Louis so far, hasn't it Linda?
I agree with Wilson's comment--to a point. But the 'interstate' focus/upgrade should be on Ave of the Saints to Des Moines and US 67 to Little Rock.
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Juice13610 wrote:...I know the weather was obviously a factor yesterday, but was weather the only reason that 64 was a parking lot yesterday? I left work at Creve Coeur heading home to Fairview Hts and it took me 3 hours. I work on Olive so I always take Olive to Skinker to 64 to home. It took me an hour (usually 25-30 mins) to get from CityPlace to Skinker, then 2 hours to get home (usually another 25-30 mins).
40 always backs up during bad weather at the PSB You should probably seek an alternate way home like 70 to McKinley. I certainly wouldn't drive on Olive all the way to Skinker when 170 is much quicker.
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shadrach wrote:But the 'interstate' focus/upgrade should be on Ave of the Saints to Des Moines and US 67 to Little Rock.
Good point- upgrading both of those routes to interstate status would greatly benefit St. Louis. Stretches of U.S. Highway 67 in Saint Francois, Madison, and Butler counties have already been upgraded. Much of U.S. Highway 61 already has four lanes, it just needs interchanges to replace the at-grade crossings, especially in rapidly-growing Lincoln County.
While we're talking about an expansion of the Interstate system that might benefit St. Louis, I know the idea was shot down before, but I still like the idea of an Interstate 24 extension that would provide more of a direct connection between St. Louis, Carbondale, and Paducah.
As far as Linda Wilson's comment is concerned, my problem isn't with MoDOT or St. Louis in particular. I think most American cities would've been better off if interstates would not have been extended directly into the cities they serve.
In European cities, and most Canadian cities for that matter, expressways stop well short of the central business districts and the denser urban cores in general. A system of boulevards or parkways similar to but not as disruptive to neighborhoods as the current interstates would have provided adequate connections for travelers to the circumferential interstate highways in each city (like I-270 here in St. Louis). Instead, leaders in several American cities insisted that interstates were necessary for their survival, and ironically, in some ways this decision only exacerbated the flight to suburbia.
'Living St. Louis' did a profile of Highway 40/I-64. They interviewed Linda Wilson:
More MODOT bait-and-switch revealed!
From the I-64 Live discussion (http://www.stltoday.com/discussions/new ... D020408218):
Grrr! Can they cheat us out of any more of the fancy design elements they used to sell us on the highway shutdown?
From the I-64 Live discussion (http://www.stltoday.com/discussions/new ... D020408218):
Driver: Will the new bridges have the street name engraved in them, like Compton Avenue is engraved??
Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: The street names won't be engraved but will be on placards mounted on the bridges.
Grrr! Can they cheat us out of any more of the fancy design elements they used to sell us on the highway shutdown?