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Transportation

nextSTL, Van Alen Institute Present Life at the Speed of Rail Event June 28

Published on Monday, 13 June 2011 15:07

Written by Alex Ihnen

Will high-speed rail spur economic development in the Midwest? What role does design play in improving transportation and planning in St. Louis?

Join nextSTL and the Van Alen Institute at the Contemporary Art Museum Tuesday, June 28 for discussion of the Life at the Speed of Rail (LASR) winning submissions and a conversation about St. Louis and the region's high-speed rail future. This important dialogue about design and transportation in America will focus on the St. Louis to Chicago HSR corridor, how the region can plan now for a new transportation future and what it might mean for St. Louis.

More Sprawl, but also Transit, Arch Funding in Regional Transportation Planning Document

Published on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 08:41

Written by Alex Ihnen

The East-West Gateway Council of Governments draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) document for fiscal years 2012-2015 has been released. It's much more important than it sounds. Want to get a road repaved? A bridge built? A land added to that highway you drive everyday? It has to be on the TIP. So what's here? A total of $797M in transportation spending.

Two big projects will continue to feed sprawl into St. Charles County and western St. Louis County. Phase III of the Page Avenue Extension is set to receive $71M and a new span of the Missouri River, replacing the westbound Boone Bridge span at a cost of $123M. Other projects include the resurfacing of Wydown Boulevard in Clayton at $3.7M, $11M to create HOV and BRT lanes "on various routes in St. Louis County." There's also a total of $81M for two projects related to the Poplar Street Bridge, I-64 interchange and I-70 "improvements related to Jefferson National Expansion Memorial", the Arch. Both are labeled as "preservation" projects. Is this how funding for the $578M Arch grounds plan begins?

Urban Mobility Report Points to Overbuilt Roads in St. Louis

Published on Friday, 20 May 2011 11:01

Written by Herbie Markwort

The Urban Mobility Report published earlier this year revealed a surprising dichotomy about congestion in St. Louis. Despite congestion continuing to decrease since 2000 as represented by the report's travel time index statistic shown on the right, travel time for the average St. Louis commuter has increased.

As mentioned before, the reason for the dichotomy likely lies with the sprawling nature of St. Louis's suburbs. Between 1950 and 2000, St. Louis's urban population grew 48% while urban land area grew over 260%.

The difference between population and land area, however, tells only part of the story; it shows how thinly the region's infrastructure is being stretched. The data underlying the Urban Mobility Report tells another part; it shows that our road infrastructure is likely overbuilt.

Designing Lambert as a Regional Gateway

Published on Thursday, 19 May 2011 06:43

Written by Andrew Faulkner

The future of Lambert lies as a regional gateway for flights originating in airports such as Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Witchita, and Indianapolis. To become an alternate gateway Lambert has to employ design to do a better job capitalizing on its 30+ direct destinations and its manageable size. Removing concourse C provides an opportunity to do just that.

The tornado of April 22, 2011 rendered Lambert’s concourse C inoperable. In the immediate aftermath Lambert was forced to re-open concourse D, the mothballed terminal for TWA and Ozark Airlines. The airport’s current plan is to use potentially $100 million in insurance money to rebuild Concourse C and then deactivate Concourse D., although rumors abound that Concourse C is now structurally unsound and will have to be demolished, current damage assessments have not confirmed this to be true.

Save Lambert, Kill Concourse C

Published on Wednesday, 18 May 2011 01:10

Written by Andrew Faulkner

On the night of April 22nd, 2011, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Terminal 1 was struck by a an EF-2 tornado (video). This disaster, coupled with the May 13th failure of the Aerotropolis Tax Credit package to incentivize a Chinese freight hub provides an important opportunity to consider the future of Lambert airport.

Lambert, currently the 31st largest passenger airport in the nation, is the victim of the collapse of TWA and a continual reduction of flights by American Airlines. In 2005 alone, Lambert’s operating income plunged by 71% due in part to AA’s decision to reduce flights from 421 to 207. Lambert derives its income from a combination of fixed-rate passenger fees, concessions, parking, gate leases, and landing fees.