Today is the first day of the summer-long construction work on the Poplar Bridge. One lane will be permanently shut down, two lanes will be closed during off-peak time. Weekends will bring ramp shutdowns.
Anyone who takes the bridge should probably find another route regardless of the time of day. The downtown traffic is the worst I've ever seen and rush hour is just beginning.
From MoDOT "The 43 year old Poplar Street Bridge is in need of a new surface due to its deteriorated state. The purpose of the project is to overlay the entire bridge across the Mississippi River. The last time crews conducted an overlay project was in 1996. In conjunction with the overlay, MoDOT will be replacing the end terminals to the guardrails for added safety. This $12 million construction project is scheduled to begin June 5, 2006. Construction will be complete in Fall 2006."
Traffic on Monday was another example supporting the thought that any major highway work in St. Louis has impacts far beyond projections for several key reasons:
1. lack of the right type of planning
2. lack of involvement, interest and support from municipal street departments
3. the same lack of support from municipal police departments
4. lack of political will from elected officials at all levels
Without doing something different, the 40/64 closure will have incredibly negative impact on the region.
Another related idea: a simple solution; make it a $1,000 fine to intentionally block an intersection during your red light as well as street parking in a no parking zone.
Solutions don't have to come so hard and we don't have to continue to learn easy lessons the hard way if we alter the way we plan and do our business.
I think MODOT is trying, with this and the work on 40 near Compton, to get the region ready for the delays we wil surely expect for 3 straight years. It will negativly impact the region for a short while - but the 40 rebuild NEEDS to be redone. It should help in the longrun. I think they should wait to do this bridge resurfacing again untill after the new bridge is built. This will give a major relief to congestion.
Traffic is backing up on Washington and 4th as motorists head for the Eads and MLK bridges. And the gridlock is impacting numerous MetroBus routes that use these streets for part their routes, making buses 20-60 minutes late for the entire length of their routes in the evening.
Fortunately, albeit three days after PSB repaving started, Metro has created some bus route detours to avoid the mess. Metro staff will also be out on the streets to see if motorists start taking different streets in the evening, and then adjust detours accordingly.
It would also help if Police actually ticketed anyone blocking an intersection, and if it were a steep fine.
My entire 6th-to-13th evening sidewalk commute on Washington is spent viewing a gridlocked queue of eastbound drivers honking at each other and generally behaving as if there was an evacuation order because Godzilla was mere blocks behind them and heading their way.
Washington has been back up to 17th Street the last few evening. The people blocking intersections don't help and they do not enforce the area on Washington where parking is supposed to be prohibitted from 4 - 6pm either.
phobia wrote:My entire 6th-to-13th evening sidewalk commute on Washington is spent viewing a gridlocked queue of eastbound drivers honking at each other and generally behaving as if there was an evacuation order because Godzilla was mere blocks behind them and heading their way.
You should go knock on windows of cars and tell the people that you're walking home.
I think that if I worked downtown, and communted the Illinois, I would be taking some very extensive Happy Hours after work.
southslider wrote:Traffic is backing up on Washington and 4th as motorists head for the Eads and MLK bridges. And the gridlock is impacting numerous MetroBus routes that use these streets for part their routes, making buses 20-60 minutes late for the entire length of their routes in the evening.
Fortunately, albeit three days after PSB repaving started, Metro has created some bus route detours to avoid the mess. Metro staff will also be out on the streets to see if motorists start taking different streets in the evening, and then adjust detours accordingly.
It would also help if Police actually ticketed anyone blocking an intersection, and if it were a steep fine.
Traffic this week has been absolutely horrible. I can deal with congestion, but gridlock is another story. Getting off Memorial onto Washington has been difficult because of the increase in traffic on the Eads. Yesterday wasn't as bad, which might be because there was no Cardinals game.
If things are this bad with the resurfacing of the Poplar Street Bridge, I can only imagine how bad it will be during the Highway 40 reconstruction.
Ditto. Good clarification between traffic, congestion and gridlock.
Just heard that Memorial Drive is to be resurfaced starting next week also.
My bus commute to downtown is only a minute or two longer while the commute back to Soulard has taken up to 45 minutes this week. Largely because catching the bus in the first place can take 20-30 minutes. There's no such thing as a reliable bus schedule now.
^I read about that, it looks like these will be nighttime closures according to this news release. Also, ssliders post above has a link to Metro. Seems like they've changed some downtown routes. Looks like the 30 bus won't be going on Washington for the time being.
MoDOT Will Close Various Lanes on Memorial Drive
in Both Directions Beginning June 12
THE LANES WILL REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL JUNE 22
ST. LOUIS - The Missouri Department of Transportation will begin pavement repair on the Memorial Drive between Washington St. to the north and Spruce St. to the south. Memorial Drive is separated by I-70 at the northbound and southbound entrance of Downtown St. Louis. There will be various lane closures nightly.
* Week of June 11 through June 14 closures from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
* Week of June 18 through June 22 closures from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. (no work on Sunday for Father's Day)
* Week of June 25 through June 28 closures from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Motorists are encouraged to take alternative routes when traveling downtown St. Louis.
This seems like ther perfect time for downtown to do a nice weeknight evening event. Like dinner specials (Eat Week) or shopping deals. Something to take advantage of people knowing they won't be going anywhere and giving those downtown another option instead of sitting in traffic.
phobia wrote:My entire 6th-to-13th evening sidewalk commute on Washington is spent viewing a gridlocked queue of eastbound drivers honking at each other and generally behaving as if there was an evacuation order because Godzilla was mere blocks behind them and heading their way.
You should go knock on windows of cars and tell the people that you're walking home.
I think that if I worked downtown, and communted the Illinois, I would be taking some very extensive Happy Hours after work.
----
when i lived in boston, there was this nice apt complex at the intersection of storrow drive and the big dig/I-93 area with a huge sign out front that read, 'If you live here, you'd be home now..." if anyone has ever lived or been in boston, this was one of the ugliest intersections at rush hour.
May be someone could string one across the overpass of the St. Louis Center...
As construction clogs Poplar Street Bridge, drivers adapt
By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/11/2006
It's anyone's guess exactly how many cars, cabs, buses and big rigs are avoiding the Poplar Street Bridge these days.
With construction on the span doubling and sometimes tripling drive times across the Mississippi River, thousands of motorists are determined to find a new path of least resistance.
Their quests last week caused backups on Interstate 270's Chain of Rocks Bridge and made snarls even worse on Interstate 255's Jefferson Barracks Bridge. Downtown streets leading to the Eads and Martin Luther King bridges in the late afternoon were gridlocked.
"Part of the problem is, everyone else is trying to conquer this, too," said Matt Melliere, a structural engineer who has tried four routes to and from work in Hazelwood. So far the quickest way home to Columbia, Ill., takes one hour and 10 minutes, he said. Before the work began on the Poplar Street Bridge, his commute was 35 minutes.
Morning and afternoon backups on the partially closed bridge are about what the Missouri Department of Transportation expected, said Deanna Venker, an area engineer with the department.
For most of the day, two lanes are closed in each direction. Crews reopen one westbound lane during the morning rush and one eastbound lane during the evening rush. The bridge accommodates typically 110,000 vehicles daily.
Thousands of these drivers are trying to adapt by avoiding or enduring the 30- to 45-minute evening backups. Illinois commuters are waking up earlier to catch MetroLink or begin their westward trek before 6 a.m. Many say they are leaving work early or arranging to work from home.
Chrissan Accario-Winslow, a clinical nurse specialist at Washington University, said driving from Edwardsville is too unpredictable. She'd rather have a longer, but more set commute by catching MetroLink in Caseyville.
"I can't rely on crossing the bridge," she said. "I don't know the variability of how long I'll be waiting."
Traffic irritations are not limited to the Poplar Street Bridge. Construction across the St. Louis area has drivers at wit's end.
Need to get from Grand Boulevard to eastbound Highway 40 (Interstate 64)? Too bad, because the ramp is closed. Need to head any direction on Interstate 170? You might want to leave early, particularly in the evening, because the interstate is reduced to two lanes each way.
One common complaint among motorists is that construction is occurring simultaneously on the Poplar Street Bridge and the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, in south St. Louis County. Crews are repainting the I-255 bridge and replacing its expansion joints.
Missouri transportation officials want work completed on both bridges before crews start rebuilding Highway 40 next year, Venker said. The department also wants arterial roads free of construction - another reason behind the current blitz.
To improve traffic, eastbound motorists on the Jefferson Barracks Bridge will encounter no lane closures between 3 p.m. and 6 a.m. starting Monday, according to MoDOT. One lane will remain closed on the westbound side.
It will take at least another week or two before traffic patterns stabilize.
Until that happens, Madison County Transit has road supervisors watching traffic on the Eads and the King bridges to direct bus drivers to the span less traveled.
