One Year After Opening Readers Positive Toward New Mississippi River Bridge

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:

1. 4) Very Good 12 [33.33%]
2. Tie 6 [16.67%]
   1. 2) Fair
   2. 3) Good
3. 5) Excellent 5 [13.89%]
4. Unsure/No Answer 5 [13.89%]
5. 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.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Rate The New Mississippi River Bridge

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.

— Steve Patterson

Accessing the Opening of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge

Despite the cold weather thousands came out Saturday to see the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge a day before it opened to vehicle traffic. The shuttle we rode from 9th near Washington onto the bridge was packed tighter than the #70 Grand bus during peak use.   I overheard some saying how nice the bus seamed, likely their first time on a bus.  Our shuttle passed by the last two stops because we couldn’t take on another passenger.

As we approached I wondered if there would be a break in the center dividing wall to get from the westbound lanes to eastbound lanes. There wasn’t, instead the had ramps to cross over.

I don’t have any stunning bridge photos, it was too cold & gray to attempt. We did stay through all the speeches at the ribbon cutting.

I look forward to driving across the bridge, and seeing it night. This is an interesting example of a very cost-effective structure type also being very beautiful, sometimes limited budgets can result in a better finished product than unlimited budgets.

Hopefully any new development at each approach will be worthy.

— Steve Patterson

Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge Ribbon Cutting Saturday Afternoon

This coming Saturday those willing to brave the cold weather can walk/bike/jog across the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Here’s information on Saturday’s events:

• 8 a.m. – 6K Run. Details on cost, where to meet and registration are available at: bigriverrunning.com/bridgerun.
• 10 a.m. – Cycling Time Trials. Space is limited. Details on cost, where to meet and registration are available at bigriverrunning.com/bridgerun. In addition, those interested can participate in the biathalon, which allows them to compete in both the 6K run and the cycling time trials.
• Noon – the bridge opens to the public.
• 2 p.m. – ribbon cutting ceremony.
• 3 p.m. – Ceremonial first crossing. Participating in the crossing is limited to various military and classic car groups. All available spots for the crossing are filled.
• 4 p.m. – The bridge closes to the public.

You must be registered to be on the bridge before noon.  Additional information can be found at http://www.newriverbridge.org, including a shuttle bus from the Convention Center MetroLink.  I’ll probably take a regular MetroBus.

Still hard to believe this day is almost here.

— Steve Patterson

Tucker Offramp Now Open, Adjacent Land More Valuable

Yesterday MoDOT and city officials cut a ribbon to open traffic from I-70 onto the new Tucker.

With the new offramp, and the opening of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge in 2014, the adjacent land is suddenly prime real estate. Will it be developed like most highway offramp areas or will it be more urban/dense/walkable? I don’t have any illusions the city will make any such demands so my only hope is Paul McKee comes through with a plan the surprises his many critics.

— Steve Patterson