From the PD: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument



Of note:

At the time, officials predicted the new highway would draw 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles each day off frequently congested I-70.



That, and more, has happened. The latest figures from the Missouri Department of Transportation show that parts of Highway 370 carry more than 60,000 vehicles daily.

AWESOME (that's sarcastic) reporting (that's a stretch too) by Mr. Bryant. Remaining to be answered: DID 370 draw 40-50k vehicles off I-70? Well, we're told that 370 carries 60,000 vehicles a day - oh, fantastic, what a raging success, beyond our wildest hopes. Anyone else see the disconnect here?

the corridor has produced 10,000 jobs, said Nadine Boon, economic development director for St. Charles and head of Discover! 370, a regional booster group.

While I'm not saying that this isn't true, I suspect that some of these were relocations, etc. and not new.

The city's biggest 370-related development is St. Louis Mills, the mammoth mall that opened three years ago.

. . . seven years after the highway was built.

The highway acts as a bybass of highway I-70.



It's great from North County to St. Charles County, but the problem is that it dumps into I-70 near Mid-Rivers where traffic concentrates. That cannot be solved except by drivers exiting onto Spencer and navigating to points south from there.

Playing Devils Advocate - How long was I-270 there before any real development happened (like the developments from Westport down past Olive and around Manchester)? I am too young to remember, but I would venture that the night that 270 opened, it wasn't completely developed.



I don’t think that 370 is that far behind -- and especially considering that most of this area is in flood plane - which limits the type of development (mainly residential)... In any case - I agree that the article was written in such a way that it was going to have a positive spin on the project one way or another (GO SPRAWL)... but I think the road project itself accomplished its goals of giving people from St Charles another major option to cross the Missouri River, and as far as development goes - there is a lot of "hope" for the future - including New Town in St Charles, the mills development, and the future Lakeside 370 business park... we can't except it do be full urban the day it is finished... and It never claimed to be anything more than an option for the hundreds of thousands of St. Louisans who were transplanted (mostly white flight) into St. Chuck.

I agree that the article was written in such a way that it was going to have a positive spin on the project one way or another (GO SPRAWL)...

I guess that's my point more than anything. I mean, the article featured a picture of a Sonic restaurant to highlight the success of the project. I would like to see the same article with the "St. Louis City slant." Possible headline:



370 Kills Missourians: increase in auto accidents leave more people dead than before there was a roadway

Ihnen wrote:While I'm not saying that this isn't true, I suspect that some of these were relocations, etc. and not new.

Yeah, just off the top of my head, Saint Charles County has lured the Coca-Cola bottling plant, MasterCard, and CitiMortgage from Saint Louis County in the last decade.



Of course, only the first business is located in the 370 corridor, but my point is that Saint Charles has a knack for siphoning businesses from Saint Louis city and county (and using subsidies to do so).



St. Louis Mills hardly qualifies as a raging success. Now North County has three woefully underperforming malls. Yippee!

At least we have been able to redevelop Northland Shopping Mall into a Target and Schnucks, and Crossroads into single family homes.



Maybe Jamestown and Northwest are next?



Seriously, the Metrolink needs to be expanded to Northwest and the mall turned into an urban village like what's happening in California and East Coast. The standard suburban model no longer works for us and increasingly only applies to exurban areas like O'Fallon and Wentzville where everything is new by a decade or less.



Northwest Plaza becoming mixed use would work since Pattonville has a new and large school called Drummond Elem.(let's not forget top rated teachers) nearby thankyou ariport expansion that removed Carrollton Elem and Carrollton Oaks Elem. We have the great schools to accomodate students and unlike Parkway we invest continuously into our facilities along with education and not just parking lots. Pattonville offers the same quality education as Parkway and Rockwood schools just with more middle and lower income students.

SMSPlanstu wrote:At least we have been able to redevelop Northland Shopping Mall into a Target and Schnucks, and Crossroads into single family homes.



Maybe Jamestown and Northwest are next?



Seriously, the Metrolink needs to be expanded to Northwest and the mall turned into an urban village like what's happening in California and East Coast. The standard suburban model no longer works for us and increasingly only applies to exurban areas like O'Fallon and Wentzville where everything is new by a decade or less.



Northwest Plaza becoming mixed use would work since Pattonville has a new and large school called Drummond Elem.(let's not forget top rated teachers) nearby thankyou ariport expansion that removed Carrollton Elem and Carrollton Oaks Elem. We have the great schools to accomodate students and unlike Parkway we invest continuously into our facilities along with education and not just parking lots. Pattonville offers the same quality education as Parkway and Rockwood schools just with more middle and lower income students.

I posted in the St. Louis Mills thread about the possibility of redeveloping Northwest and Jamestown. I think a mixed-use development at Northwest would be ideal. There is plenty of room for various types of housing, but hopefully that would include some retail (whether the mall's anchors stay or relocate elsewhere in NoCo).



I'd like to see Metrolink extended to the site to exploit its fullest potential, but I'd have to imagine it's a low priority since St. Charles nixed expansion years ago. That said, an extension from Lambert to the Northwest Plaza site would cost a fraction of what was proposed previously, so it's something St. Ann should consider if the option of completely redeveloping Northwest presents itself.

Alex Ihnen wrote:

The city's biggest 370-related development is St. Louis Mills, the mammoth mall that opened three years ago.

. . . seven years after the highway was built.

And after 20 years that mall sold for pennies.