Where We Stand: Transportation

dbInSouthCity · PostJul 03, 2014#12014-07-03T14:13+00:00

East West Gateway puts out these Where We Stand pieces on various topics that compares our region to others. The current issue is on Transportation

http://www.ewgateway.org/pdffiles/newsl ... 6EdNo8.pdf

Things that stood out to me

only 2.3% of our regions workforce takes transit to work, that has to change and change a lot before we can consider system expansion, current system is not close to running at capacity. National average is 5.2. First thing we need to do is quit running buses on routes in the county that have 3 people on the bus all day. Metro could make many smart cuts to the system that would free up money for other more worthwhile things but they really painted themselves in the corner after Prop A

2nd- we need to quit building "new" highways like expanding route n in st.charles. (Again for me a re do of 270 and 70 isn't new it's maintaining what we have)

We are below the national average in jobs lost from 3 miles within the CBD from 2000-2010, that's the good I guess. The bad only 13.2% of the regions jobs are within 3 miles of CBD

87.6% of workforce drives to work, 12.4% bikes, walks, takes transit or car pool in 2012. Of that's 12.4% I would guess most car pool. So driving to work is probably 96% since transit is 2.3% and .56% bike

Anyway it's worth a read

STLEnginerd · PostJul 03, 2014#22014-07-03T15:05+00:00

First thing we need to do is quit running buses on routes in the county that have 3 people on the bus all day.

Agree 100% narrow and simplify the route offerings and increase frequency. Spending 10 minutes walking to the nearest bus stop is better than waiting an additional 10 minutes when you get there. I know the ridership of the Metrrolink stations has been published is there any similar data for the metrobus system?

we need to quit building "new" highways like expanding route n in st.charles. (Again for me a re do of 270 and 70 isn't new it's maintaining what we have)

Agree mostly. Some of the proposed improvements in the recently proposed .75% tax, and usually the most expensive proposals, such as adding lanes to I70 are not "maintaining", but are in fact highway expansions.Ten years of JUST maintaining the current system might do Missouri some good. Let development and population growth catch up with infrastructure.

imperialmog · PostJul 03, 2014#32014-07-03T15:44+00:00

What about road projects that could be seen as expansions, but are needed due to improving safety or removing flooding issues. Maybe any expansion should focus on those cases where expansion would be a consequence of addressing a safety or flooding risk.

Is there a list of most dangerous intersections or stretches that could be a target for work? In terms of flooding the biggest concern sections I can think of is US 67 in St. Charles County and the intersection of 141 and 44. is there any plans on doing any work in those areas that could reduce or eliminate flood risk at those locations?

dbInSouthCity · PostJul 03, 2014#42014-07-03T16:43+00:00

there probably is a plan to address dangerous curves statewide but I think state and fed law protects it from being public

PostJul 03, 2014#52014-07-03T16:45+00:00

STLEnginerd wrote:
First thing we need to do is quit running buses on routes in the county that have 3 people on the bus all day.
Agree 100% narrow and simplify the route offerings and increase frequency. Spending 10 minutes walking to the nearest bus stop is better than waiting an additional 10 minutes when you get there. I know the ridership of the Metrrolink stations has been published is there any similar data for the metrobus system?

we need to quit building "new" highways like expanding route n in st.charles. (Again for me a re do of 270 and 70 isn't new it's maintaining what we have)
Agree mostly. Some of the proposed improvements in the recently proposed .75% tax, and usually the most expensive proposals, such as adding lanes to I70 are not "maintaining", but are in fact highway expansions.Ten years of JUST maintaining the current system might do Missouri some good. Let development and population growth catch up with infrastructure.

70 from Wentzville to Independence is getting a lane addition, not in the urban area. And perosnally I'm on the fence if that lane add is needed. But I have no doubt that re do 70 surface and bridges across the state is needed

STLEnginerd · PostJul 03, 2014#62014-07-03T18:39+00:00

So something interesting on Page 12 of that report.

Crashes per One Million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
St. Louis Region, 2005 to 2012
City of St. Louis 14.7(2005) 13.3(2006) 12.6(2007) 12.5(2008) 12.7(2010) 5.9(2011) 5.7(2012) 7.9(2013)

So what happen in 2010 that caused the # of crashes per VMT in the City of St. Louis to be basically halved. It must be a permanent change or at least ongoing because the number seam to have carried over.... The article says it has steadily dropped which doesn't seam to credit what appears to have actually happened. Closing of I64? Reopening of I64? Cash for Clunkers? This is an interesting mystery.

dbInSouthCity · PostJul 03, 2014#72014-07-03T20:25+00:00

Just a FYI - 15.5% of the federal gas tax $ goes to transit (the federal transit account)

Ebsy · PostJul 04, 2014#82014-07-04T01:50+00:00

That would be a good point if the thing funded by the gas tax, the highway trust fund, was not going to run out of money at the end of the month.

jstriebel · PostJul 04, 2014#92014-07-04T05:02+00:00

One of the reasons transit is so low is because our current system doesn't serve the right areas. Other than some not particularly efficient bus routes, the dense areas on the south side have less than stellar access to transit.

That makes the notion of needing ridership to go up in order to expand, a bit of a catch-22. It's not going to go up if you don't expand it and/or correct it so that it's useable for the population.

A lot of this could be done with better bus routes and schedules, though.

moorlander · PostJul 05, 2014#102014-07-05T02:03+00:00

^Combine that with an excellent highway system....