Metro Transit Agency Fills In Gaps In St. Louis’ Sidewalks

Transit needs to meet the needs of its customers.  One need is to be able to reach the transit vehicle. In many parts of the city the sidewalk network is incomplete or so poor it is no longer passable. Metro, our local transit agency, has stepped up to do what it can do to fill in gaps here and there.

Ideally this intersection, N 14th & O’Fallon, would get new sidewalks when a new urban building is constructed. But that is years away, if ever.  We can’t wait for new structures to get new sidewalks.

– Steve Patterson

Maintaining Infrastructure in Sparsely Populated Areas

At 61.9 square miles of land area, St. Louis is a relatively small city.  But many parts of this area are sparsely populated and sidewalks are few.  The above sidewalk at North Florissant Ave at North Market St. was passable, I saw worse between here and the new sidewalks on two blocks of North 14th (Warren to St. Louis Ave.)

Which comes first? New residents or new sidewalks? The residents aren’t going to arrive until conditions improve and conditions won’t improve until there is more residents to help justify the capital expenditure on the infrastructure.

A future light rail line has been studied for North Florissant so improvements to the entire right of way would presumably come with that investment.  Population, it is expected, would follow.   A hundred years ago develop happened along new transit lines lines.  More recently, development happened along investment in highways. So I’d say the new sidewalks need to come first.  Of course, buildings and population aren’t going to just appear because some new sidewalks have been installed in a few places.  Someone has to put together a vision for how, in this case, this corridor, might look.

Maintenance, clearly, just isn’t done.  And really, minimal maintenance is probably just a waste of money.  So much is needed here to populate the area.

– Steve Patterson

Walk-up ATM, But Not Roll-up ATM

I like walk-up ATM machines.  Too often only drive-thru ATM’s are available.

When I’m out using my wheelchair it helps to be able to roll up and use the ATM.  But the above ATM presented a few of problems for me:

1. The curb at the base prevented me from pulling up close enough.
2. The height & angle of screen & buttons was too great to have used the ATM even if the curb wasn’t there.
3. At other machines I tend to pull up with the machine on my right side, rather than straight in.  But the ramp into the entrance prevent that as well.

I could have pulled up and stood long enough to have done my transaction, but not everyone can do that. This credit union needs to add this ATM & entrance to a list of future improvements. I’d like to see these be improved within a year.  I will send my request to them.

– Steve Patterson

Forced into the street again

Last week I posted about being forced into the street to reach the bus stop on 14th Street between Washington Ave and Delmar.  The issue was a major lack of wheelchair curb cuts at 14th & Lucas, the alley/street to the north of Washington Ave.  So Friday when I wanted to take the same bus from the same stop I knew I need to approach from another direction.

I crossed Washington Ave to the north at the crossing at 16th Street.  One block east on Washington and then north on 15th one block to Delmar. Heading east to 14th it didn’t take long for me to see I was going to have issues crossing 14th Street.

The SE corner where I was headed has a curb cut.  Interestingly, neither street – Delmar or 14th — has a curb cut to correspond with the SE corner. So again I was back in the street, in drive lanes instead of crosswalks, to reach the bus stop.  Trust me, “driving” a wheelchair on the road is not a comforting feeling.

Yesterday I caught the same bus south of Washington Ave, next to the main library. Much easier access! All bus stops should be accessible. Remember, my access issues are not the fault of our transit agency, Metro – the city has failed to ensure access by missing curb cuts in a few places.

– Steve Patterson

Citygarden is great, but not perfect

Citygarden has impressed everyone in it’s its first year open in St. Louis.  The two-block sculpture garden is, in most respects, outstanding in design and construction.

The two curb ramps along 10th Street (at Chestnut and at Market) both hold water following a rain.

Numerous ramps downtown have the same problem, but few were built as part of an otherwise high quality project. The mini lake at top is probably the worst downtown. Naturally, that is the one I use most often.  Even when dry I must use the side of the ramp — my wheelchair’s footrest gets caught if I go straight in.

And the environmentally friendly rain garden isn’t getting all the rain water it is supposed to receive.  Hopefully these three areas will be redone someday.  The problem at 10th & Market will be corrected when the wide “hallway” is extended to the west.  Had Citygarden built it’s side planning for the future hallway the current issue wouldn’t exist.

As a member of the Gateway Mall Advisory Board I can assure you I will bring up water retention at curb ramps and planning future projects so the hallway concept is easier to complete.

– Steve Patterson