Jarred by potholes? Frustrated by road construction? Ask the Road Crew, 1 p.m. Wednesday
Ask the experts from the Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Louis and St. Charles counties and St. Louis City your questions about highways and roads. The live chat starts at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
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For MODOT, The signal timing along Gravois Ave and the crossing streets need to be looked at. The waiting time on cross streets such as Cherokee, Utah and others is over a minute or longer. When you do get the green light you are lucky to have 2 or 3 cars get through the intersection. Should there be a car waiting to make a left you might get through and have to wait for the next green light. Only time there is a long green for cross the street is if an individual presses for a walk light and most do not do this. Your light timing may work in rural areas but not in a urban setting.
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Can you provide a little more information -- what time are you typically seeing this ? As general note, the roadway with the most traffic does tend to get the most signal timing, so it isn't unusual for traffic on side streets to wait more than a minute for the signal to change during times of higher levels of traffic. However, I can share it with the traffic team -- the more specific information you provide, the better they can evaluate the situation. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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You might want to reach out to Ameren, who's been doing the work. I did check with our permit team on this, but hadn't gotten any information back. If I do hear something, I will either update this response, or share it next week. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communcations.
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I read about the progress you're making on the Rocheport bridge while on line yesterday. I've commented on the R. bridge before. My concern is that you are going to build another ugly, flat bridge like the new Boone bridge. It serves a purpose, but it looks out of place next to the beautiful bridge next to it. Now you are going to comment that "we" didn't have the money. I know money is tight but I remember the mess that was built at 270 and 170 and had to be replaced for millions. I'm thinking that 'design-build' helps with not making mistakes like that again. I think you build really nice highways. I grew up in JC and watched you build the Whitton Expressway, the Missouri River Bridge in 1955 and also watched the construction of the Jefferson Building and new Highway Department Building.
Make the Rocheport bridge exciting! I noticed in your information that over 12 million cars use it a year, add cars with two people and that figure goes up. Make the bridge memorable!
I suggested something like the bridge going into Alton. It has 200 foot towers. its cables are wrapped in yellow tape and it looks golden. For Rocheport you'd probably only need one tower and it could be built on the west bank to save money, The cable would then spread out over some land, water and if the bridge is built high enough above tree tops flooding would never hinder traffic. The bridge would be seen from miles away and would be remembered for its beauty and people would see that their tax money went for something beautiful. People from all over the world would use it and remember it!
It looks like the infrastructure package is going to be huge! You should be able to get Senators Blunt and Hawley to get a good deal. I, as a tax payer, just like others, saw the mess in Boston when 15 billion was spent on their project to build it. Full of graft!
Use a project name to get people excited about what their tax money is being used, something like "he Show Me Bridge". Don't name it after a politician some idiots will want to tear it down!
Make a project that is fun. Have a contest, for example, school children each giving pennies (five or more wouldn't break their piggy bank). It would be a fun thing for them to do and as they grow up and cross that bridge with their families they would be able to say that they helped build the bridge! In art classes they could have a contest and have the students draw a picture of what they thought the bridge should look like. You could get a corporate sponsor. (Schucks have stores all over the state, as an example)
Just consider: you are not just building a bridge or a road. You are building something people will see the rest of their lives! Make it memorable, you could even start calling this the "Show Me" project, they'll remember that. Show that you and the taxpayers are going to be proud of your projects, just like, I'm sure, the MODOT team is when they stand back and admire the work they have done! -
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I would like to suggest a timing modification for the signal at South Lindbergh and Rusty Rd/St John Church Rd in South County. Currently, traffic turning right off of Rusty Rd onto SB Lindbergh (towards I-55) is given a green twice in a cycle. The first green occurs when traffic is released from Rusty onto Lindbergh to make left and through movements. Immediately after this sequence, traffic is released from St John Church Rd. After this movement, the second green in the cycle is given to right turning traffic off of Rusty onto Lindbergh due to traffic being given a green to turn left off of Lindbergh onto Rusty Rd (towards Target and Costco).
My suggestion is to change the order of the cycle, releasing traffic from St John Church first, followed up by Rusty. After the left and through movements have ended, the left turns from S Lindbergh can begin. This will allow a longer green cycle for right turning traffic from Rusty instead of splitting it up.
I know this intersection is very congested, so the split right turn sequence may be intended, but I wanted to at least make this suggestion in case it was never considered.
Thank you. -
I've passed your suggestion along to our traffic engineer for the roadway to consider. We do have a project coming up along Lindbergh in that area starting in spring 2022. That may change some of the variables, so timing may change after that. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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