Maryland Heights residents to discuss redesign of two highway interchanges

Maryland Heights Residents for Responsible Growth, is hosting a public event with MoDOT and the City of Maryland Heights on the reconstruction of the I-270 interchanges at Dorsett Road and Page Avenue, which begin this month.

Wednesday – February 17, 2010
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. – Presentation and Q&A with MoDOT and City of Maryland Heights Public Works
7:00 -8:00 p.m. – Open Forum with Community

Maryland Heights Community Centre – Auditorium
2344 McKelvey Road
Maryland Heights, MO 63043

This is the first public forum with specific details and time lines on this two-year construction project. The project will start on I-270 and Dorsett Road the first year, then move to Page Avenue interchange in 2011. The project is expected to take two years. MoDOT will also be showing the public the animated driving sequences on the “divergent diamond” design on Dorsett at the I-270 interchange.

180,000 cars a day travel on I-270 through Maryland Heights every day and this is going to cause big disruptions for both local traffic in Maryland Heights, Westport and Creve Couer as well as those who are just traveling through the area on I-270 from Page Ave. to I-70. There will be lane detours and reduced lanes as they completely rebuild the bridges/interchanges.

There will also be a major, parallel Maryland Heights city project moving Prospect Parkway away from the rebuilt Dorsett interchange which will place the finished road further east on Dorsett. It will relocate the road on the north side of Dorsett past Syberg’s and cross to the south-side of Dorsett just east of the Drury Inn. The south-side construction will feature a “jug-handle” design and is designed to assist with traffic congestion from the newly expanded Edward Jones campus as well as funnel traffic in and out of the Westport area.

Maryland Heights Residents is a relatively new organization that originally formed in 2008 in response to development proposals for the Howard Bend area. In general, there seemed to be no community information or engagement with residents of Maryland Heights. Only the business and property owners were routinely notified of public meetings and asked to participate in community development discussions. The residents realized we needed to step up as citizens and inject ourselves into the process.

The organization has developed since then into a group dedicated to making Maryland Heights a better place to live and giving residents a voice in community development. Our four main goals are:

• Preserve Howard Bend green space
• Revitalize our neighborhoods
• Protect our environment
• Promote public engagement

You can get more information on Maryland Heights Residents for Responsible Growth at www.marylandheightsresidents.com.

Full disclosure: I am one of the organizing partners for Maryland Heights Residents for Responsible Growth.

– Deborah Moulton

Conservatives can support public transit on April 6th

Liberals do not hold a monopoly on supporting public transportation.   Thanks to a post on Sprawled Out I learned of an interview by Street Films with conservative author William S. Lind.  Some of his points include:

• Auto dominance in the U.S. is not a free market outcome
• Liberal transit advocates should not mention reduction of greenhouse gases when talking transit to conservatives
• Libertarian anti-transit critics use wrong measurements
• “When you tax one competitor and subsidize the other the subsidized competitor wins.”

Here is the video (3:21 minutes):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q9zeJnCx6Q

I often find myself agreeing with fiscal conservatives — and disagreeing with Libertarians.

“Conservatives And Public Transportation”Conservatives and Public Transportation” is a collection of studies originally published between 1997 and 2009 in booklet form by the American Public Transportation Association. The book includes a previously unpublished report on the activities of the National Surface Transportation Commission, appointed by Congress in 2005 to examine the infrastructure needs of this country. Weyrich served on the commission and wrote language that strongly supported public transportation for the commission’s final report. That language, which had been adopted on a 9-3 vote, was excised from the final report.The studies helped conservatives understand why transit should be an essential part of the conservative agenda: because it enhances national security, promotes economic development, helps maintain conservative values including a sense of community, and provides welfare recipients with access to jobs.”  (Reconnecting America)

More:

“The Free Congress Foundation has established The Center for Public Transportation under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to offer a re-balanced vision of the national transportation system in which rail and highway travel complements each other. Some journeys will always be more convenient by car. But Americans should be able to travel from any point in the country to any other point without using a car, if they so choose. They had that option as recently as the 1950s. By re-creating it, we can ensure that America is not held hostage by crises in the Middle East or other oil-producing areas.”  (Free Congress Foundation)

Conservative or liberal, there are reasons to support good mass transit.

-Steve Patterson

Readers not impressed by St. Ann’s new speed camera

In the poll last week (post: St. Ann’s speed camera begins February 1st) readers were clear: a speed camera in the school zone is not the best way to make the street safe, it is about revenue for the municipality.  In this case the suburb of St. Ann.  For the most part I’m not bothered by speed & red light cameras because I tend to follow traffic laws to the letter.  However, safety on the streets, especially for pedestrians, is a high priority for me.

Q: This week St. Ann begins school zone enforcement using speed-zone camera technology. These are:Bad: will only increase revenues for St. Ann: 35 [40.7%]

1. Good: will increase safety in the school zone: 21 [24.4%]
2. Other: better solutions exist to slow traffic: 21 [24.4%]
3. Neutral: won’t have much of an impact on safety but it doesn’t bother me: 5 [5.8%]
4. Other answer… 2 [2.3%]
5. Unsure/no opinion. 2 [2.3%]

The two “other” responses were:

• compensating for taxes lost from NW Plaza Foreclosure/Wal-Mart leaving
• need mass transit not more speed traps this is bs

For me the question comes back to performance.  If the cameras are successful then fine.  But do they? Trying to find unbiased information is impossible. On the pro-camera side is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

“Do speed cameras reduce travel speeds?

Institute studies show that automated speed enforcement can substantially reduce speeding on a wide range of roadway types. Institute studies in Maryland, Arizona and the District of Columbia found that the proportion of drivers exceeding speed limits by more than 10 mph declined by 70, 95, and 82 percent respectively. Research conducted outside the United States also shows large effects of speed cameras on traffic speeds. For example, in Victoria, Australia, speed cameras were introduced in late 1989, and police reported that within 3 months the number of offenders triggering photo radar decreased 50 percent. The percentage of vehicles significantly exceeding the speed limit decreased from about 20 percent in 1990 to fewer than 4 percent in 1994.

Are there other technologies that could aid in enforcing speed limits in both urban and suburban areas?

Yes. Roadside electronic signs that display vehicle speeds to warn drivers they are speeding may reduce speeds and crashes at high-risk locations. Institute research found that mobile roadside speedometers can reduce speeds at the sites of the speedometers as well as for short distances down the road.16 When used in conjunction with police enforcement, the effect of speedometers can last longer. Signs warning truck drivers that they are exceeding maximum safe speeds on exit ramps also show promise, as they reduce the numbers of trucks traveling greatly above maximum safe speeds.

Two emerging technologies are being used to enforce speed limits. Intelligent speed adaptation links a position of the traveling vehicle via Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and computerized maps with speed limits to determine if the vehicle is speeding. The system may work as an advisory system for the driver or an intervention system that automatically reduces the vehicle’s speed to comply with the speed limit. Point-to-point speed camera technology records the time it takes a vehicle to travel between two camera locations to compute an average speed and compare it to the posted speed limit. This system uses optical recognition technology to match the two photographed vehicle license plates. Point-to-point speed cameras are being used to enforce the speed limit on the Hume Freeway in Victoria, Australia. In the UK, point-to-point speed camera systems are known as “Distributed Average Speed” camera systems and have received government approval.”

Cities that have tried speed cameras offer a different perspective.  One community in Arizona has removed speed enforcement cameras:

“Pinal County supervisors Wednesday bid goodbye to photo enforcement.

Their vote to terminate their contract with Redflex, the company that operates the cameras, came at the recommendation of the county’s top law-enforcement official, new Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

“I’m against photo speed enforcement completely,” Babeu said, walking the three-member panel through a detailed PowerPoint presentation. “Here in Pinal, it’s failed miserably.”

Babeu said speed cameras created dangerous road conditions and offered little financial benefit for the county. He plans to boost traffic enforcement through additional manpower.” (Source: Pinal County shelves speed-camera program)

To me these cameras are more about revenue than safety.  Better ways exist to slow traffic and raise awareness of the presence of school children.   Ticketing was to begin on February 1st but the Post-Dispatch reported on the 4th that warnings will continue through at least the end of the month.

– Steve Patterson

What the passage of Proposition “A” can mean for the St. Louis region

Tuesday April 6, 2010 voters in St. Louis County will decide the fate of Proposition A — a 1/2 cent sales tax to match the same tax previously approved by voters in the City of St. Louis.  Revenues would be used to fund existing operations and expand service of our regional public transit.

I decided to put together list of what “A” can do for the region:

1. Accelerate: strong transit will accelerate the trend toward filling in the core rather than pushing outward at the edges.  This helps ensure those folks who moved to the edge won’t be surrounded by new construction.
2. Accessible: public transit makes going from home to work accessible to many.  This applies to those of us with disabilities as well as those without access to an automobile. Getting our citizens to work, school is important for a strong region.
3. Accomplish: dedicated funding is critical to a healthy  transit transit system.  Prop. A will accomplish the goal of creating a dedicated funding source for operations.
4. Achieve: St. Louis will be closer to achieving the type of transit system a strong region needs to have to compete in the 21st century.
5. Activate: transit helps create activity.  Transit riders are often pedestrians on part of their total trip.  Their activity creates a buzz around stations & stops.  More transit and more riders that will activate our sidewalks.
6. Adjust: we will adjust our ideas about transit and what it means to the region, even if we don’t use the system ourselves (or just rarely).
7. Affirm: passage will affirm our commitment to a regional transit network.  This affirmation will send a strong message to companies and people considering the St. Louis region as a future location.
8. Affordable: as we saw when service was cut back people couldn’t get to work.  Employers need their employees at work.  Our region can’t afford to not have a functioning transit system.  We can’t afford to not pass this tax.
9. Attainable: with dedicated funding Metro can attain a decent level of service for the region through both rail & bus transit.
10. Augment: we will be able to augment the current system to better serve the core of the region, including St. Louis County.

For more information the on Proposition A see the Yes on A website at moremetrolink.com.

– Steve Patterson

St. Ann’s speed camera begins February 1st

Starting Monday February 1st motorists speeding along Ashby road in front of Hoech Middle School (3312 Ashby Rd) will receive tickets from a new speed enforcement camera:

ST. ANN, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) – It’s a first of its kind effort in Missouri to try and cut down on speeding in school zones. St. Ann, Missouri, is putting up a camera to catch people who speed through a school zone. But not everyone is thrilled with the idea. The St. Ann program is similar to the red light cameras- offenders will be mailed a ticket with a picture of the speeding car and a fine.

[Police Chief] Schrader says speeders will receive a flat fine of at least $100, but he says no points will be assessed on a driver’s record if they’re caught.

That fact upset attorney Chet Pleban, “They’re a bad thing in my opinion.” Pleban has been an outspoken opponent of red light cameras and he’s against the speed zone camera as well.

Pleban says without assessing points, the program is nothing more than a money maker for St. Ann with big brother watching. “It’s a revenue producing thing that I think is in the long run dangerous,” explained Pleban. “Where does big brother stop? Where does big brother stop monitoring us under the circumstances for revenue production?”

The camera will be in use 24/7-so even when the school zone speed limit is not in effect, drivers breaking the normal speed limit will still get tickets.  [Source: Camera Will Soon Be (sic) Catch School Zone Speeders]

Just as numerous municipalities now use red-light cameras I anticipate we will see more of these throughout the region.  But is this a good thing?  Some would argue the idea is too big brother while others argue safety is the primary concern.  What are the alternatives?

A couple of years ago I was in a car with my brother in Edmond OK as we drove entered a school zone in front Cimarron Middle School (3701 South Bryant Avenue, Edmond, OK).  South Bryant, like Ashby Rd, has four lanes of traffic but the method of denoting the school zone was the most effective I had ever seen.  Small runway lights in the center line flash during the school zone period.  The following video from the City of Edmond shows the flashing in-road lights as well as other measures they use to improve the safety of their streets (the intro is cheesy but stick with it).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4kHXl5nORk

Edmond’s solutions are a good alternate strategy to using cameras to ticket speeding vehicles.

– Steve Patterson