Do we need another example of a car culture and highway planners run amok? Yes? Jack Painter provides us with one.
Jack is a bicyclist from the St. Louis area who wrote to tell about what's happening to his community while the Missouri Department of Transportation rebuilds I-64/US40.
As covered recently in Missouri Bicycle News (“St. Louis area freeway project may lead to serious problems on key bicycles routes“), the MoDOT is shunting traffic onto adjacent roads while it closes the interstate to perform the rebuild.
Local officials plan to repaint narrower lanes on the side roads to handle more traffic, thereby ruining their use as routes for commuting and recreational cyclists. Those narrower lanes will probably remain intact after the interstate is built.
Jack writes to tell about the long-term impacts of such narrow thinking. His e-mail:
The re-building of Highway 64/40 & 170 interchange, which is the main artery through St. Louis, will cause many more problems than the media and MoDOT have announced. Consider:
1) County administrators are considering banning the use of bicycles on the surrounding roads.
2) The height of bridges will be raised so as to allow larger trucks and thus 64 can be designated as an interstate.
3) The devil is in the details and they will be permanent in destroying pedestrian and alternatives to auto use.
For example, a pedestrian bridge linking my neighborhood with numerous stores across adjoining highway 170 will be eliminated. Across highway 64/40, just 150 meters away, are numerous grocery stores, shops, restaurants, etc. Walking or cycling to these stores would be easy and convenient but such alternatives are not part of the New I64 plans.
Cycling, walking or driving to these destinations means traveling 1.8 miles by existing roads. However these roads are unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. Non-existent sidewalks, narrow road lanes coupled with the fact that there are no bike lanes, or sharrows, creates dangerous conditions for all road users. The safest and quickest means is thus by driving which will produce more traffic, noise, pollution, etc.This story is another indication of how the intent of federal laws (insuring that alternatives to autos are part of federally subsidized road design) is circumvented without proper oversight and accountability. The EIS reports are thus inaccurate and misleading.
Who can intervene and help prevent this nightmare which is expected to last over FOUR years at a minimum?
It's the same old story: Interstate highways don't solve traffic problems, they just create more traffic. And that's how it happens.
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