Delor Ave Bridge Reopened Six Weeks After Collapse of Railing
It was six weeks ago, on March 1st, that a portion of the sidewalk and guardrail of the Delor Ave bridge over I-55 crashed down onto the roadway, blocking all four lanes of northbound traffic (see post). This past afternoon the barricades were removed and the bridge was reopened to traffic (vehicular and pedestrian).
The light gray portion of railing above is new to replace that which had collapsed. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured when the concrete fell to the interstate below.
From above you can see the new concrete sidewalk and railing. I’m glad the bridge is reopened as this is my direct route from my home to my office. I’ll drive or scooter across the bridge but you won’t catch me walking on that sidewalk!
The remainder of the bridge has small bits of new concrete in places as well as indicators where new steel was set to secure the balance of the sidewalk and railing. Apparently this design allowed water to get into the construction and rust steel that could not be inspected. A large number of other bridges along I-55 and some along I-44 use the same design. All are to be retrofitted to ensure the same does not happen again.
As I indicated last month, I am concerned about the amount of infrastructure we as taxpayers have to pay for. While existing infrastructure rusts we continue to build more and more, often on the outer edges of region. When we do focus on existing infrastructure, it is costly replacement projects such as the “New I-64“.
Maintenance ain’t sexy. Building new stuff is. A good politician needs to do both, including money for both in every budget.
What’s even worse Steve, is that when given the option of passing the cost of such infastruture onto users, the State balks. Think about. We could be building and maintaing our river bridge crossing through a tolling district for all bridges, but the State of MO won’t go for that. They instead will selectively toll some new bridges. It makes no sense. Rising infastruture costs are eating away at MODOT’s ablity to both maintain the existing infastture and build much needed new infastuture.
Sadly what is needed is leadership at the State level that has the foresight to see that the big burdget crunch is coming and that simply asking for tax increases won’t cut it when everyone hates MODOT.
As a transplant from Mississippi—the land of no state money for anything, whatsoever—I was (indeed, still am) utterly appalled by how poorly maintained the roads are in this state. It is an embarrassment. Repaving projects may take Mississippi years to complete, but at least they attempt maintainence—and have an excuse.
It’s all about building ever-increasing state assets (tomorrow’s liabilities) to secure a future for the players while simultaneously ignoring needed maintenance (what the public wants). Yes properly maintaining sidewalks, existing streets and highways, etc. does not create ribbon cutting photo-ops and
whenever possible, highways should be tolled. MoDOT officials need to be held accountable for their numerous failures and the New I64 is poorly designed as it principally addresses historical failures instead of what is need for tomorrow.
As such the New I64 is already outdated, fails to adequately address the needs of pedestrians/cyclists, and will lower our quality of life so a few can save a minute or two in traveling time. Our central corridor containing our most valuable public assets (including Hanley Road south of 64) is being designed to adhere to “interstate” standards and neighbohoods are being destroyed. The autocentric mindset of our leaders and fellow citizens is creating an unsustainable infrastructure which will allow super-long trucks to become the railroads of our future. This is truly disasterous for the region and repairing a few sidewalks is not the issue as you well know.
Applause for John – how do we get you on the MDOT board? I can’t imagne what that group is like – they must be some of the most backward thinking people around – throwing 600 Million at something that probably would be more than fine with maybe 50 Million in maintenance – and completely ignoring pedestiran and cycle ways that could have had a profound effect on the region. Think of it – a greenway/bikeway parallel 40. I already know if several people in glendale that bike communte to the westend daily – I would joint them if I did not need to take my life in my hands to do it.
Having done extensive traveling through the heartland, I am in agreement with Don that this region has very poor roadways. I think a portion of this relates to the dramatic extremes of the seasons and the use of salts and chemicals to prevent roadway icing. However, maintenance is treated like a bad word.
Agreeing with Jim, maintenance is not flashy. In fact it is often viewed as a necessary evil in many professions. Unpopular is the notion of taking pride and caring for ones belongings. Our society is often viewed as a “disposable societyâ€. I believe this now carries over to our governments’ assets.
Finally, most construction companies have more interest of building new than refurbishing. The companies are organized to optimize profit around new construction. And these companies influence decision makers in our government. A direct example is the newly elected an owner of a construction company to the St. Louis school board.
However, I am somewhat skeptical about using tolls. This maybe another means of feeding the beast. Speaking of beasts, how about an update on the status of the proposed Mississippi River bridge? Last I read the Missouri coalition dismissed the IL funded less expensive option of a coupler bridge to the MLK and are now looking for moneys.
Point of correction, Brian: the owner of a (suburban subdivision building) construction company was not elected, but named as an appointment by the Governor. He couldn’t be elected to the City School Board because he doesn’t live in the City.
And no, maintenance is not sexy. That’s why vinyl siding is popular, and more people buy Camrys than Corvettes. That’s why Forest Park Forever can get money from private donors to rebuild fountains and lakes, but can’t fund repairs to sidewalks and bridges from the Central West End. As John said, keeping public buildings and infrastructure in good shape doesn’t offer much in the way of photo ops or gratitude.
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Is every post that even remotely mentions a st. louis highway going to become a MoDOT bashing thread? In most every post above, I see a lot of things being said without anything really being said.
My former residence was a townhouse in the Chicago area for which I had two tollways in my backyard (the East-West & North-South Tollway). Travelling by car came at a price considering that the IL state gas tax is also quite high compared to my new home in MO. My work also includes extensive travel to New Jersey and New York, land of even more bridge tolls and turnpikes. My point, MO residents like myself are paying little relative to a lot of other people and getting little in return for it.
What is dissappointing to me is that Missouri political leadership thinks that tolls are the answer. Tolls require another quasi government monolopy that only extracts more money out of the taxpayer base for the infrastructure they maintain. Illinois Tollway also had their fancy office tower located down the road from me, so I supported both IDOT and the Tollway Commission while I was living in the Chicago Area. What scares me even more is the leasing of basic infrastructure needs. A Business is establish to make a profit for its shareholders, nothing more should ever be expected. Certainly not a nice highway or bridge at a cheap price.
The gas tax is as equitable as your going to get in paying for transportation infrastructure short of paying by the mile. MO can’t afford to build out and maintain the existing infrastructure let alone support transit because their is no political will too raise the gas tax.
LisaS: I was implying David L. Jackson Jr., owner of DLJ Construction Services, who was just elected in the last city elections to the school board. For reference, please see Steve’s link of the April 3 Elections at the top of the page.
– Brian