We’re not going to Joliet IL but I liked seeing their Union Station from the train last month. Click the image to view the website on their handsome 1912 station.
It’s the end of the week so here’s some good news: it’ll be warmer than usual this weekend! With the cold winter weather it has been too ugly to do much outside.
Tomorrow my husband and I are taking a day trip. I’ve posted before about previous trips:
Our trip tomorrow involves driving the back roads in two counties in Illinois with stops in two small towns, to protect our privacy I’m not going to be specific ahead of time. We’re intentionally avoiding interstate highways on the way out, we may use a highway to return. But I might find alternate back roads.
The lunch place I have picked out is 43-45 miles away from our downtown loft, depending on which of the three back road routes we pick. Taking interstate most of the way is 42-44 miles. The two interstate routes would be faster; 41-49 minutes vs 58-61 minutes on the back roads. It’ll be a nice day and we won’t be in a hurry, unfamiliar back roads are always more interesting than familiar interstate highways.
February 11, 2015Downtown, Metro East, TransportationComments Off on One Year After Opening Readers Positive Toward New Mississippi River Bridge
This was seconds after Illinois Gov Quinn & Missouri Gov Nixon cut the ribbon on The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge on 2/8/2014
In the most recent Sunday Poll the ‘Very Good’ & ‘Excellent’ outweighed the ‘Fair’ & ‘Poor’ ratings, 17 vs 8, respectively. The two negative choices barely beat out the neutral middle ‘Good’, 8 vs 6, respectively.
Q: Rate the new Mississippi River Bridge (aka The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge) based on your overall impression:
4) Very Good 12 [33.33%]
Tie 6 [16.67%]
2) Fair
3) Good
5) Excellent 5 [13.89%]
Unsure/No Answer 5 [13.89%]
1) Poor 2 [5.56%]
As a residential designer for many years I can tell you no matter the wealth of the client — the size of their budget — it’s never enough to accomplish everything they desire. Missouri & Illinois started off with a very long wish list then realized their list had to get substantially shorter. It works though, we’ve used it regularly instead of the William L. Clay Sr. Bridge (aka Polar Street Bridge/PSB).
I wasn’t able to find any information on traffic counts on the new and other bridges into downtown St. Louis, but an accident on the PSB yesterday morning caused delays:
The accident occurred around 6:15 a.m. and forced all but one lane of the roadway to close. All lanes of the roadway reopened around 6:30 a.m., but delays were ongoing. (KMOV)
I’m very curious to know how reality compares to the projections.
Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Years in the making, one year ago today Illinois & Missouri cut the ribbon on a new bridge over the Mississippi River at downtown St. Louis, officially named the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge. The name, like everything about the project, is a compromise between interests in each state.
For budget reasons the bridge has fewer lanes than originally desired, in downtown it feeds into Tucker rather than a West bypass loop. Now that a year has past I’d like you to rate the overall bridge project. How did Illinois & Missouri do?
The exact question is: Rate the new Mississippi River Bridge (aka The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge) based on your overall impression.
The 1-5 rating scale will be presented in random order, the poll is in the right sidebar on the desktop layout. The Sunday Poll closes at 8pm — 12 hours from now. Note: your feelings for the late Stan Musial shouldn’t be a factor in your rating of this major infrastructure project.
St. Louis has had very little success with transit-oriented development since our original light rail line, MetroLink, opened in 1993. From the start the Emerson Park station in East St. Louis, which opened in May 2001, was different. The station includes some storefront space and around the station homes & apartments have been added over the years, a recent addition is Eco Jazz, see New Senior Housing A Bright Spot In East Saint Louis.
Jazz Ensemble Market believes that food is the connection that brings us all together. When we sit at the dinner table, we share our moments with family, friends and food gives us opportunities to connect.
Serving the East St. Louis Community is our core business philosophy. We are locally owned. Any purchase that is made in the store, stays in East St Louis. We are locally operated. All employees come from within East St. Louis. We are neighbors serving neighbors, the way it should be.
Our community involvement is vast. We are partnering with local vendors, local producers, local outreach groups to give each other a helping hand up. We are working with other local organizations to develop and implement solutions to their challenging problems.
Jazz Ensemble Market will never be on the side lines of the community.
For far too long East St. Louis has been a food insecure area, and we are the foundation to turn that around.
Let’s take a look…
The Jazz Ensemble Market as seen from the MetroLink platform, it opened last Fall in the ground floor of the new Eco Jazz./Jazz at Walter Circle senior housing buildingLooking toward the transit station from the market’s door we see a WB trainInside the market has a small deliSome produce near frozen foodsMore produce next to dairyRoom for more produce!
The nearest larger grocery store is a Schnuck’s at 25th & State — a 1.5 mile/30 minute walk from the station. The number of people walking to/from the market and station was encouraging. A seating area up front lets you enjoy your deli purchase while looking at the station, the free wi-fi let’s you stay connected.
This adds up to be a great subject for Good News Friday (#gnf)!
It was recently suggested by former St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl that a new NFL/MLS stadium be built across the river in Illinois. Over the last few years I’ve thought this as well, regular reader & prolific commenter “JZ71” has mentioned several times building a stadium specifically between the approaches to the MLK & Eads bridges. It would be visible from downtown St. Louis and be located adjacent to an existing MetroLink light rail station. I’ve thought that was too tight but knew there’s lots of vacant land there awaiting new use.
In June I got married at the beautiful Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park — directly across from the Arch — maybe South of there? Or to the North of the MLK bridge approach? Looking at maps and serial images only gets you so far, so Saturday afternoon I drove around checking out the Metro East riverfront/bottoms.
I crossed the river on the Eads Bridge since it was direct, I quickly ruled out the land to the South of the Martin Memorial/geyser because of access issues and future CityArchRiver plans, wildlife, etc. So then I looked at the space between the Eads & MLK approaches — as I suspected it appears way too tight for a stadium with enough buffer to keep the bridges open game days.
Looking South on Front St with the MLK in the foreground, the Eads in the background, and the Arch to the rightLooking East from Front St, the MLK approach is to the left just out of view, the Eads approach on the right. Great location for a hotel(s) if a stadium were built to the North of the MLKJust North of the MLK bridge approach, the land on the right is mostly vacant of structuresLooking East at a gravel road. More on this later in this post.East St. Louis Police shooting range headPresumably this 80 year old pumping station is still operationalVery quickly the new SMVMB is in view past the leveeIndustry at the end of the road, no access to I-70 or the new bridge — yet.Looking back at St. Louis across the Mississippi River
So access here kinda sucks too — but not for long. Since it opened in February 2014 I’ve driven across the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge (I-70) many times, but this weekend was my first seeing how it connected to IL Route 3. Later this year will mark 25 years I’ve lived in St. Louis, I know the region pretty well, including the Metro East — but the new I-70 approach to the new bridge is very different than it has been. Connectivity is greatly improved and will get better.
The new I-70/Route 3 interchange has the start of a road heading toward the East St. Louis riverfrontIt’s unfinished but will soon provide easy access to the Casino Queen, Malcolm Martin Memorial, and anything else built here.The blue line marks where the road will continue. Image from the New Bridge gallery, click to view.Aerial shows how the new I-70/iL Route 3 interchange will connect to Riverpark Dr leading Front St. Three potential sites here, the bottom left has good visibility from downtown St. Louis and the other two from the new I-70.
This is within St. Clair County, an analysis of future MetroLink light rail expansion into neighboring Madison County four of seven possible alignments would pass by to the East along the Route 3 corridor. Additionally transportation officials are working to improve Amtrak speeds between Alton & St. Louis while also considering a new stop in St. Clair County. No historic buildings/districts razed, fewer/no businesses/residents displaced.
A new NFL/MLS stadium, light rail expansion into Madison County, and an Amtrak stop could transform this area and further connect the St. Louis region. Sorry Gov Nixon, Illinois make much more sense!
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
