urbanSTL

I agree that a signature bridge would be ideal and emailed Slay's office about it. Suggested that frequent commuters be given a discounted toll rate at the end of each month via transponder for frequent usage. Surprised my email was acknowledged. Said theyll pass it on, but that's far more than I expected.



I wonder if IL paying no tolls while MO does would hold-up in court (differential treatment).

A couple of things to consider:

• St. Louis is not gaining population. We've simply stopped hemmoriging people as we have in the past 50 years. East-West Gateway is predicting small population declines at 2010 and 2020.

• The St. Louis region has been growing very little population wise over the last couple of decades but the amount of land being consumed is roughly four times the population growth rate. This is an unsustainable trend.

• A "signature" bridge will simply tell the world we have our priorities all wrong. Other cities are investing in excellent transit systems that allow the citizens to live mostly car-free --- that is an image to send to the world. Denver comes to mind as a region on the right track, so to speak.

• Boston's big dig was a highway project but it was also about reconnecting the downtown core from a highway that cut it apart. Removing I-70 to reconnect our urban-renewal era downtown (aka horrible pedestrian environment) to connect to the lifeless environs of the Arch grounds will be nice for tourists but meaningless to the bulk of downtown residents and workers.



Highways:

Had the highways never been built directly through the City of St. Louis we would be in much better shape today than we are. A considerable amount of our population loss came directly as a result of the highway buyouts --- people's homes, schools, churches and businesses were taken away from them. They were forced out. The resulting neighborhoods were cut off from each other or people's employer was moved for the highway so the people moved too. Add to that racial integration. And just like someone living in far St. Charles County today, the highways into downtown made the commute to St. Ann or Des Peres tolerable in terms of time.



This is not to say we'd be at 850K in population and downtown would be the center of retail in the region. St. Louis would have been hit by population loss, no doubt. But, we'd also have a much better chance of recovery if not for these massive dividers that remain today. Take a drive through Vancouver --- it is so pleasant not having highways everywhere. A good street grid to disperse traffic is far superior to a highway which forces all traffic into a tiny funnel.



I'll concur the coupler idea will likely not add to sprawl --- it will simply help deal with the traffic we have. I think that is as it should be. As planners continue to predict volumes of traffic 20-30 years out and then build for such levels they end up proving themselves right --- more traffic. Well, planners missed on airport runway needs didn't they?

^ You guys really should be quiet or you are going to make me cry. This is an opertunity lost for some intrepid politician looking to make a name as the person who got the "impossible" bridge built and (even more important) re-linked downtown with the landing/ river.



Sure, Urban Review might be right that our downtown is not the thriving place that Boston is, but I sure do think that if downtown took the agressive route of ripping out 70, the development it could spur and linkages it could make would go a long long way to improving the pedestrian nature of downtown (think about as Bonwich said the possible residential and office development that could line a new 3rd street parkway, the developments on the landing near washington, the ablity to link downtown with an attractive and maintained downtown park).



The value is there. The vision is not...

It is also important to remember that with a new coupler bridge, some of that depressed secton traffic will no longer need to use the depressed section (folks traveling east/west on 70, those traveling from 70 east to 55 north, those traveling from 55 south to 70 west). Southslider do you know how much of a chunk that would take out of the 70k per day that use the depressed section? The other big question is how much of the "depressed section" traffic is people coming into and out of downtown for work? If alot of the 55 north to 70 west traffic is only people getting off downtown, the work on the Trueman Parkway and a new modern 22nd street parkway would both help move people into and out of downtown.

Slay orders inspections of bridges

By Kim Bell

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

03/04/2007



ST. LOUIS — Mayor Francis Slay has told city engineers to speed up inspections of all 68 bridges and viaducts under the city's control, in reaction to Thursday night's partial collapse of the Delor Street bridge over Interstate 55.



The Delor overpass is maintained by the state, not the city. And city officials say they have no indication their own bridges are in jeopardy.



"It's excessive caution," Slay's chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, said Saturday. "When something like this happens, it highlights a problem. We want to assure everyone we're on top of it."



The state's transportation director, Pete Rahn, said Saturday the Delor overpass was considered middle-aged and never caused state inspectors any concern. In fact, it was not on the state's list of 2,900 deficient bridges.



A 69-foot section of the sidewalk attached to the bridge snapped off about 8 p.m. Thursday, falling across all four northbound lanes of I-55. One motorist, Lauren Ché Brown, 16, of St. Louis, was slightly injured when her car struck the concrete.



Rahn said cracks allowed salt and water to corrode the rebar.



The Delor overpass shares its design with 118 other bridges across Missouri. Rahn ordered those reinspected Friday, and inspectors found only one — at Holly Hills Avenue over I-55 in St. Louis — showing similar signs of corrosion.



On Saturday, crews set a row of heavy concrete median barriers on the Holly Hills overpass to serve as counterweights so that the sidewalks cannot fall. Counterweights were installed Friday on the Delor overpass.



By next Friday, the state will hire a contractor to install steel bolts to reinforce the sidewalks.



"According to our bridge engineers, we're very confident this will prevent any further occurrences here," Rahn said.



The Delor Street overpass was built in 1963. It passed its last inspection, in 2005.



The overpass showed signs of only minor corrosion, and the eroding steel pins were hidden from view, Rahn said.



"What we've learned from this incident, on this particular bridge is, we've got to look at these telltale signs much earlier," Rahn said.



Those signs include heavy amounts of salt and rust markings. Those signs themselves are not indicators of a failing bridge, Rahn said. The critical element, he said, is where those stains are located. "On this bridge, it's the underseam of the bridge where the cantilever sidewalk joins the slab," he said.



Rahn said he would expect a bridge's life span to be 75 years, particularly over interstates.



None of the bridges maintained by St. Louis are designed like the Delor overpass, Rainford said.



"Our sidewalks are integrated with the bridges," Rainford said. "We use a different type of steel reinforcement. In our mind, it's better."



The city inspects its bridges every two years, the industry norm, Rainford said. Since the Delor collapse, Slay wants every bridge and viaduct to have a recent inspection. The report should be complete within two weeks, Rainford said.



The Delor overpass remains closed. Rahn said he doesn't know yet what kind of permanent fix is in store for it.



"We might very well have to take that down," Rahn said. "If we don't, then we'll be reforming and recasting the sidewalk back in place."



kbell@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8115