Curb bumpouts at Broadway and Market downtown installed last year were removed at lightning speed, after complains from drivers after a concert and from the Hilton Hotel. Mayor Spencer ordered them removed this week. This is a huge disappointment after years of effort to make safety improvements to streets around the city. Cars first policies damage our city and put lives at risk, but we see once again that drivers’ entitlement complex carries the day.
StlMag – Bumpout removal in downtown St. Louis has advocates crying foul
The improvements to intersections along Broadway are called daylighting. The bumpouts shorten the crosswalk length, make street crossers more visible to drivers, and slow turning cars. This reduces the potential conflict between cars and those outside of them and lessens the severity when drivers hit people. Transportation Alternatives has an in-depth explanation of daylighting techniques.
City of St. Louis – Friendly Streets
After the Zach Bryant concert a few weeks ago drivers who created too much traffic aired their grievances. The improvements to Broadway took the blame. A century of cars first policy and social engineering has fostered an entitlement complex among drivers who are accustomed to their convenience being the top priority. It has infected how these incidents are covered by the media, with aggrieved drivers’ victimhood put front and center.
KMOV – Pedestrian safety or efficient traffic flow? Curb bump-outs, lane removal under spotlight
Efficient traffic flow is weighed against pedestrian safety. “Efficient” traffic flow has been the top priority of government at all levels for a century, but it is never enough. Too much of our city has been destroyed to widen streets and to build highways and parking all at the cost in dollars, pollution, safety, and population loss. Moving people by cars is anything but efficient in terms of energy, cost, or space. Cars take up a lot of space. They have been getting bigger. Next time drivers should take transit to reduce and avoid traffic, or complain as to why they are so car dependent that they are coerced to take a car to an event likely to lead to traffic jams.
This Saturn car commercial lays bare just how wasteful of space cars are:
Especially disappointing is the Mayor’s swift actions to placate car-dependent non-residents and business interests, belying her remarks in her inaugural address last year:
Everyone has the right to feel safe in their community. And public safety is not only a human right, it’s an economic imperative. That’s why we’re going to work to ensure you feel safe no matter how or where you live. From Holly Hills or Hyde Park. No matter how you move around the city. In a bus, On a bicycle, in a car, or walking.
To the almost two dozen pedestrians who lost their lives to vehicular violence last year – we will make our streets safer.
– Mayor Cara Spencer Inaugural Address Apr 15, 2025
In regards tot he Hilton Hotel and issues with the curb bumpout on Broadway at Market and their driveway, instead of a reactionary response, the city could have considered a modification to the bumpout that could have mitigated the issue for the hotel and helped improve safety. Perhaps we should have had a years-long study and public engagement process, like those typical before implementing improvements like these. It could be after careful consideration that removing the bumpout was the best course of action. We’ll never know. The safety of people outside of cars was tossed aside to placate the business interest in short order. At least we know the city can take action swiftly when it wants to. Though the Mayor knew that from how quickly the city removed a stop sign she personally installed in her ward when she was an adlerwoman.
StlToday – Messenger: Alderman takes on City Hall; installs her own stop sign
Mets broadcasters’ on-air criticism of a downtown St. Louis devoid of people riled many St. Louisians this week. Making downtown less pleasant to be in by cramming it full of cars, pavement, car storage, and hostile to people outside of cars doesn’t help.
“But I own this” Mayor Spencer told reporters. Will she take ownership if someone is maimed or killed due to this removal?
