9th & 10th One-Way Couplet Should Be Returned To Two-Way Traffic
Decades ago traffic engineers converted many downtown St. Louis streets from two-way traffic to one-way traffic, 9th & 10th going north & south, respectively. The 9th/10th couplet extended north to I-70, basically serving as very long on/off ramps, cutting through the Columbus Square neighborhood. Today the former Cochran Gardens high-rise public housing project is gone, replaced with mixed income apartments. The 1980s Columbus Square condos and townhouses are still nice, the neighborhood is generally pleasant and safe. Despite the fact that 9th & 10th are no longer connected to I-70, they remain very wide one-way streets, undermining the positive investment in the area.
I’d like to see 9th & 10th be two-way all the way through downtown, but that’s more complicated with garage entrances/exits. signals, etc. But from Cole St. to Cass Ave it would be very simple, just some changes to the signals at Cole & Cass, the rest is signs and paint.
We ran these long on/off ramps through this neighborhood for decades, now we need to do the right thing and make 9th & 10th neighborhood streets again!
— Steve Patterson
Great idea!! I would even be in favor of closing off at Cole/O’Fallon to keep the highway drivers from using the streets as a shortcut (which I see often).
I’d be loudly opposed to further cutting off Columbus Square from downtown. By making 9th/10th neighborhood streets (narrower, 2-way) they’ll be less appealing to motorists as a cut through route to Cass.
I would be more in favor of closing some of the streets downtown to vehicle traffic, then making them two way. If we want to promote a neighborhood feel then the last thing we need is more traffic then we already have. We are already having problems with traffic backing up on Washington due to large number of cars cruzing up and down the street as a form of entertainment on weekend evenings. Think about how sick our culture is that it has become a form of entertainment to drive a vehicle up and down the same street watching the world go by without any participation other than to be a distraction. It is not wonder that many countries look at us with disbelief if not outright hatred for the way we lead our wasteful lives. Its time to promote Americans getting off their butts and walking when ever possible, rather than easier to drive everywhere without the inconvenience of ever getting out of their car.
Closing more streets would cause traffic to back up elsewhere, the grid must not be cut up anymore. The one-way streets and random closures of streets, like Locust 4th to Broadway, routes traffic to other streets like Washington Ave.
that isn’t sick at all, it is just a lazier form of an evening stroll. maybe if we hadn’t built everything for cars for the last 60 years more people would realize it is alot more pleasant and you see alot more on a walk than a drive.