You may be right. When I say congestion, I really mean volume which is just pretty heavy for the entire transit from STL to KC. Volume is only an issue when you have throttling in the flow. If you can resolve major backups due to accidents and periodic construction through some other means, then maybe you can forgo adding a lane. One thought would be strategically placed cross over points which could be opened to divert backup to share the opposite lanes more effectively. I don't know, not my field, I will concede politicians are not engineer and they tend to favor one size fits all solutions rather than the most effective way to solve the underlying problems and MoDOT like to keep their road crews busy building roads. 4 lanes both ways is overkill.dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Dec 08, 20223rd lane isn’t necessary along the entire route, there are few hills that could use it just to have space to get around the truckers.
Still, I think we need to really be realistic when we say let's invest in rail instead. Trucks as cargo carriers is a reality and will be for the foreseeable future. Also truck traffic doesn't not have to be a losing proposition for the state. They could likely create a revenue stream from trucking that would not deter use of the local interstates but would in fact pay for the upgrades and return the money to the state for additional investment. In a weird way one of Missouri's strategic advantages is you have to drive through it to get to the other side. Monetize that commerce. You can do it through fuel taxes or as electrification becomes more prevalent some kind of VAT based on vehicle miles or a toll.
I also don't see an adjustment in dispatches relative to other routes. There will be growth in volume across the board because that is just a reality. We want St. Louis to be a center of commerce in the Midwest. A logistics hub. That means boats, airplanes, trains and yes trucks. Will it favorably impact the cornfield communities... not really. They will see more fast food and truck stops along the highways, maybe not even much of that since these trucks are going straight through with no stops as much as possible.
FWIW I did find this reference when looking for some numbers to inform my suppositions.
https://midamericafreight.org/index.php/rfs/network-inventory/corridors/profiles/i70/
Looks like ~ 20,000 vehicles travel cross state on a daily basis. If 27.9% were cargo trucks, then a 2-billion-dollar investment would be offset in roughly 5 years by extracting and average additional $200 per truck. Obviously, a better breakdown of the numbers would yield a more accurate estimate.
I did look at the Columbus to Indy portion and it looks like its 2 lanes both way in at least some places and it has ~ almost double the traffic count so I think it's fair to argue 3 lanes both ways in MO is overkill at this time.
I like HSR and would support a plan that gets us there eventually but even if it was in place, it's not going to make much impact on the traffic counts on I70.
