Questions about local road and highway 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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I cross I-44 on Big Bend in Crestwood multiple times each week. For whatever reason (large trucks obstructing the view? elderly drivers? impatient drivers? inattentive/confused drivers?) there seem to be a lot of near misses and a few actual crashes due to the combination of short stacking lanes (for left turns to enter the freeway) backing turning traffic into lane 1 and allowing turns against oncoming traffic (that flows much more freely in lane 2). Making all turns protected (green arrow only, no flashing yellow option) would probably reduce some of the conflicts, but the tradeoff would be more traffic backed up in the thru lanes on Big Bend. Apparently, this is also only going to get worse, once the bridge reconstruction is completed with its shorter stacking lanes. Hopefully, the county and the state can work together to come up some better ideas.
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The Big Bend bridge project (which starts next year) does include adding dual left turn ramps from the interstate to Big Bend. Adding those lanes will allow the department to shorten the amount of time needed to move traffic off the interstate. That will give more time on Big Bend to move traffic both north and south on Big Bend and to the interstate. Traffic counts during rush periods are not high enough to make dual left turns practical. In addition, adding dual turn lanes from Big Bend to I-44 would require us to widen the ramp and I-44 for the receiving lanes -- which is out of the scope of this bridge replacement project. Once the project is completed, our traffic team will certainly observe the movements of traffic to see if there are additional adjustments which need to be made. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Thanks. I just witnessed another near miss about an hour ago. It appeared to be an elderly driver "not seeing" approaching traffic (that had the right of way) as they were turning left (WB to WB) in light traffic to enter the freeway, A protected left turn *might* have helped, but mandatory retesting is probably the better answer.
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Last Thursday at around 9:45am I was on Innerbelt Business Center Drive in Overland waiting to make a left onto Page Ave. I was probably the 8th or 10th car waiting. The traffic signal skipped the green arrow signal twice for us traffic waiting to make the left. Also, on a typical workday the traffic on that street waiting to get onto Page (both right and left turn) is rather long. There are numerous businesses on that street. Any chance of making the green light longer? I am aware that Page Ave is busy too in that area. Thanks.
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I've passed it along to our traffic team to see if there were any issues with the detection (since it skipped traffic twice) -- it's possible that the person in the front hadn't pulled up far enough (or was too far) to be detected. If there aren't any issues there, we'll see if they can make any tweaks to signal timing. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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There is a pothole NB Lindbergh north of Missouri Bottom road at the railroad underpass. It is in the right lane after the underpasswhere the concrete and asphalt meet. I've witnessed multiple dump trucks lose some of their rock or dirt when they hit this. It would be helpful if you ran a sweeper through this area to pick up the loose rock along the curb and sidewalk.
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I've noticed that some of the road side grass cutting has been outsourced based on my observations. I have seen these contractors pick up trash prior to mowing but notice shortly after they mow they have mowed up trash. I can understand that the contractor may not see all the trash because of high grass/brush but shouldn't they be required to clean up any and all trash they mow up? Because right now i don't see that happening. i have witnessed their mowers running over trash and leaving it.
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The contract mowers are supposed to pick up the trash as a part of the contract. If there are specific locations where you see trash after they have finished mowing, please let our customer service team know (24/7) at 314-275-1500 or 1-888-AKS-MoDOT (275-6636). Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Is there any reason why there is not a cross walk button on the signal light on Mackenzie Road at Affton High School? i see students trying to cross this street everyday and it would make a lot of sense to have a cross walk button for them to push and walk across safely.
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I didn't see the follow up from the question about the Heege detour.
Since then, County Police have a programmable message board for westbound traffic on General Sherman, "No Cut-Thru." It was not there prior to the closure. Additionally, there is a hand made sign bolted to a County sign for eastbound traffic in General Sherman, "Warningh, this is no cut through."
Have you looked at timing on surrounding streets since the closure? Nb laclede station at watson gets a lot of green for the traffic demand and Rock hill at laclede station, Balfour, and gravois isn't getting enough.
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We're monitoring traffic flow throughout the project area, and are working with law enforcement to minimize cut-through traffic on residential streets, but I'll certainly forward your observations to our construction and signals group. Thank you for sharing them. David Wrone, St. Louis County's Department of Transportation -
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To get all Federally funded projects, you can check out the Transportation Improvement Plan on the East-West Gateway COG website: Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) – East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG) (ewgateway.org). They are the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the area, and so they cover all Federally funded projects in the region. If you want more specifics about state projects, you can also visit our Statewide Transportation Improvement Program page: Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) | Missouri Department of Transportation (modot.org). That covers current and expected work for MoDOT. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Is the signage for the sb 270 to wb 44 ramp finalized? I think the overheads for north outer and soccer park need "exit only" tabs. It's a long ramp with decreased visibility, so I've witnessed lots of last second swerves to make it to 44 instead of the other two options.
Also, are there going to be dotted lines and/or turn only signs on north outer 44 east of bowles for those right turn lanes into the old Chrysler area? -
According to our construction team, there are overhead sign trusses on both ends of the bridge giving plenty of advanced notice. The signs are correct. If one were to accidentally exit to the north outer road, they could easily get back onto WB I-44 just up the road before Bowles. If one were to accidently get onto WB I-44, they could easily exit onto the outer road before Bowles. The lanes are aligned intentionally to minimize merges and lane shifts in that the heaviest volume movement of SBI- 270 to WB I-44 doesn’t have to merge at all on the ramps. Our current outer road project does not include dotted lines or turn only signs on the north outer road as you describe.. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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You can visit this link for information about pending St. Louis County Department of Transportation projects:David Wrone, St. Louis County's Department of Transportation
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There is some signage on the interstates around here in STL area that has lost their night time reflective properties. Will any of those signs be fixed/replaced, it makes it very hard to read half letter/words at night on these signs. Most of them are the big overhead signs.
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We are currently working on identifying and replacing signs along I-70 in the region; after that, we will do the same for signs along I-270. Generally speaking, most signs in the region are replaced roughly every 10 years. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Question for the City. During the work week in both the morning rush and evening rush, there is a work van and another vehicle parked on northbound Hampton just north of Arsenal. I believe that both vehicle owners live in the houses on Hampton. However, there are multiple signs on Hampton between Arsenal and Soutwest indicating that it is a tow-away zone, but the vehicles are never towed or ticketed. There is also a bus stop where the van parks, so that is illegal as well. Since this is never enforced, is this actually a tow-away zone? If so, what can be done? The police won't enforce and if you call the Citizen's Service Bureau they will check when the vehicles aren't parked there, so nothing will be done. If this is no longer a tow-away zone, then the signs need to be removed.
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