urbanSTL

2019 Build Grants being announced by politicians that last couple of days.   Looks like Carbondale secured a grant to build a new downtown multimoda at current Amtrak station and two BRT lines supported in Baton Rouge, LA and Memphis respectively.   It will be  interesting to see if region picks anything up, it seem like they have been in a funk and not securing a TIGER and or now BUILD grant in a while.  Of course the previous admin focused on urban and now the focus is on rural with what seems like a lot more highway interchange projects in the last year or two.

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/arti ... d-projects

"Ask the Road Crew". Live chat with local traffic officials on Wednesdays from 1 - 3 PM. 

 http://news.live.stltoday.com/Event/Ask ... oxmn8cc41b

The Transport public - Too little, too late? A decade of transit investment in the U.S.

https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/202 ... n-the-u-s/

I noticed today that Google Maps has rolled out the feature for St. Louis that if you click on a Metro station it highlights the line(s) served by that station - and shows all other lines in a lighter shade. It's been getting implemented for a number of cities with more fixed rail infrastructure. Good to see St. Louis added to the list: 

^Now we just need more of 'em to highlight.

https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills ... R0098I.pdf

HJR 98 -- MOTOR VEHICLE FUEL TAX
SPONSOR: Merideth
Upon voter approval, this proposed Constitutional amendment would allow local motor fuel taxes to be used for public transit and school transportation in addition to other activities currently allowed under the Constitution. This proposed Constitutional amendment would also change the threshold of voters required to approve a local motor fuel tax from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority.

Good news on two major bike/ped investments.

Brickline design moves forward for Forest Park to Grand and north to Fairgrounds park.




EWG received roughly 280ish public comments on all applications, 260ish were in support of Trailnet’s Tower Grove - Cortex Connector. Should be worthwhile when EWG is determining awards in May. $7m on the line.

I commented against the project- but since its a CMAQ and those are scored on technical aspects, comments dont matter.  Comments dont matter at all really, EWG has unwritten rules how much each applicant can get based on population. 

back to why i commented against it-  why isnt a $7M project proposed that connects neighborhoods with zero car households in north city to job centers in central corridor instead of a vanity project for a few white hipster cyclists in TGS

Before I left the City in late 2018 I worked on a plan for that intersection. It can be made safer with $20-50k depending on how fancy you want to get. It doesn’t justify $7,000,000 project into neighborhood where everyone drives when you have census tracts north of there with 30-40% zero car households

I particularly like this project. One of our biggest weakness as a bike city is the lack of safe N/S connections between South City and the Central Corridor. Everything to the East is terrible for bikes. Plus this will hook up to the planned bike path on Sarah which goes North into the denser neighborhoods. Now to find something similar closer to downtown.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Apr 28, 2020

I particularly like this project. One of our biggest weakness as a bike city is the lack of safe N/S connections between South City and the Central Corridor. Everything to the East is terrible for bikes. Plus this will hook up to the planned bike path on Sarah which goes North into the denser neighborhoods. Now to find something similar closer to downtown.

worthy project but not worthy of taking the Citys 1 a year share of CMAQ/TP funds at East West Gateway when we have $100,000,000 in sidewalk repairs all over the City and zero car households in high double digits in north city that could use a cycle track thats more than a vanity project for TGS 

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 28, 2020

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Apr 28, 2020

I particularly like this project. One of our biggest weakness as a bike city is the lack of safe N/S connections between South City and the Central Corridor. Everything to the East is terrible for bikes. Plus this will hook up to the planned bike path on Sarah which goes North into the denser neighborhoods. Now to find something similar closer to downtown.

worthy project but not worthy of taking the Citys 1 a year share of CMAQ/TP funds at East West Gateway when we have $100,000,000 in sidewalk repairs all over the City and zero car households in high double digits in north city that could use a cycle track thats more than a vanity project for TGS 

It'd be interesting to see a study of the correlation between zero car households and commuting by bicycle. 

^ I bet it goes up 10x if there is a $7m protected cycle track to a major job center

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 29, 2020

^ I bet it goes up 10x if there is a $7m protected cycle track to a major job center

Could be. It'd be interesting to see how that 10x increase compares to the same investment serving singe-car and two-car households. 

Also, would "protected cycle tracks" also serve electrified scooters and bikes? It will be interesting if and how infrastructure starts to accommodate them over time. 

I like this project, but I'd also like to get some basics like continuous sidewalks in North City so I can walk around without needing to go into the equally poorly maintained street, so I can see both sides of this discussion.

If only we had the technology to design vehicles that can't go faster than the speed limit. Or at least faster than the highest speed limit.

Think AVs will sell if they can't/won't speed?

Missouri.net - Missouri traffic fatalities up in 2020, despite large drop in traffic due to COVID-19 (AUDIO)

https://www.missourinet.com/2020/04/05/ ... -19-audio/

^ OMG, DON'T TREAD ON ME!

I almost fainted when I saw this on Washington Ave.....so it IS possible to keep a sidewalk open during construction at adjacent building!

I believe the City just passed a new regulation meant to address the problem. I haven't read the actual bill, but I wonder how much clout it actually has or if it will make any difference. 

^Bravo!

addxb2 wrote: EWG received roughly 280ish public comments on all applications, 260ish were in support of Trailnet’s Tower Grove - Cortex Connector. Should be worthwhile when EWG is determining awards in May. $7m on the line.

264 comments, 256 support, 3 oppose, 5 concerned.
Comments are really touching, a lot of residents understand the impact this would have on their commutes and family.

EWG preliminarily recommends partial funding $5m of $6.5m. Should be enough to prevent a delay in the project!

https://www.ewgateway.org/wp-content/up ... 20-May.pdf


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk