Back in July, I documented the dangers of an interstate with just a double yellow line separating traffic. This year, things only got worse. If you are southbound on I-170 and want to continue to Eager Road, you steer left of the concrete barrier, right next to oncoming traffic north on I-170. This has resulted in at least a couple of reports of wrong way traffic on the west-to-north flyover ramp.

My recommendation was simple. Line the tenth of a mile of 2-way traffic with tubular markers (shown at the right), similar to those on Hanley at Dale/Eager,. Simple and space-saving. Instead, Gateway Constructors and MoDOT decided to shutdown northbound I-170 traffic from Eager Road. Here’s their explanation:

Though north and southbound I-170 traffic has been in a similar configuration since May without incident, the recent opening of the south to east flyover ramp moved the Eager exit to the left lane, while the center and right lanes took the flyover ramp to eastbound I-64. The design was safe and there have been no major incidents, but the public concern for a change has driven this decision.

C’mon. It’s safe, there’s no incidents, but “public concern” resulted in the change? How can wrong-way drivers on an interstate be considered safe? If it was really safe, there wouldn’t be a need to shut down the northbound lane. It’s not safe, but MoDOT and Gateway Constructors won’t admit it.

What impact will this shutdown have on traffic? Normally, I’d say that this would cause a traffic mess, since the only way to get on northbound I-170 from Hanley is to cut across Eager, north on Brentwood, then get on I-170 at Galleria Parkway. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since January 2nd it’s that traffic jams are awfully hard to come by. Many of the alternative routes are actually at the same or lower volumes than before the shutdown. Go figure.

Shown on the map below are all the slow areas and trouble spots, as identified by MoDOT and St. Louis County in their daily briefing reports and rush hour traffic summaries. I have to give credit to MoDOT and St. Louis County for their work here. It’s seldom that you see government respond to issues so quickly and with as much transparency as we’ve seen in the first few days of the shutdown.

Just click on the icons or routes for more information. You can also view the full map here.

In reality, though, this “site” is just a single page that mushes all of the Post-Dispatch and KMOV content into one snapshot. It doesn’t behave as a single site. If you click on the button to play the highlighted video, it opens a new window on the KMOV site (with the video about 1/4 of the size on the home page). Want to click on an accident on the traffic map? Sorry, that pops up a new window as well and then loads the “real” traffic map, where you have to click on the accident again. In the end, you’ve got all kinds of browser windows open and no coherent view of traffic.

This set up might be forgivable, but the content is just wrong.

Here’s three examples:

There’s a mapping tool on the site that’s supposed to route you around the construction. When I asked it to get me from University City to Town and Country, the generated directions routed me onto the closed Highway 40. C’mon, this is basics folks!

Another neat looking feature gives you drive times and congestion reports. The problem? Around the lunch hour today, several areas (I-270, and 40 west of I-270) were reported as “gridlocked”, even though Gateway Guide cameras showed clear sailing throughout.

Well, at least they reported the closed section of Highway 40 as “gridlocked”!

(In fact, as I write this post, the “Drive Times and Congestion” feature is now missing from the Post4TrafficOnline site)

Finally, I found it odd that the featured video this afternoon was the afternoon weather forecast. Is this a traffic web site or a weather web site?

Looks like the Post-Dispatch and KMOV have a little bit of work to do.

Sure, you may wait an extra cycle at a light, and if your previous commute was straight down Highway 40, it will take longer. But initially, at least, you won’t see gridlock nor will 20 minute commutes turn into 2 hours. Why? Quite simple. The media has scared the daylights out of anyone who is not required by their job or the law to travel in the vicinity of Highway 40. The fashionable New Year’s resolutions are to cancel any discretionary trips near West County.

Forgive the diversion, but this reminds me of a story. Back in 1993, I was starting a new semester at college and was watching the local St. Louis news with a foreign exchange student who’d just arrived in the U.S. from Germany the day before. The lead story on the news was that Highway 40 in the Chesterfield Valley was re-opened after the floods had receded. What was this student’s reaction to this clearly earth shattering news for the St. Louis driving-obsessed public? Laughter. She simply couldn’t understand how a road’s status could be a lead news story. I guess she could be forgiven, though, since she came from a country with an actual functioning nationwide mass transit system.

Back to today’s Highway 40 obsession. Yes, you could get up at 4:30 AM tomorrow and watch the “Special Report” on Highway 40 on your favorite local news station. Not that there can be anything useful to say at 4:30 in the morning, other than it’s dark, cold, and, yes, Highway 40 is closed. But it will continue to feed the frenzy and keep people away from the roads.

I can’t say how long this hysteria will last — at least until the next local celebrity is caught drinking and driving. Eventually the media frenzy will die off and word will get out that the roads aren’t so bad. Since those discretionary trips can’t be postponed forever, the drivers will return and venture out again. When that happens, my previous predictions will come true — some key chokepoints will cause headaches for many a driver in 2008.

In the meantime, enjoy your drive.

However, combined with the constant delays in the I-44 restriping (still not done as of yesterday), the real question is: do these small delays add up? With challenges in getting things ready for the shutdown, is there any hope that MoDOT can deliver on the promised times for completion? Perhaps MoDOT turned off those “Countdown to Completion” signs for reasons other than it was “confusing”?

The glare from the sun on the camera might magnify the problem, but I can assure you that the lane lines were quite difficult to see at times. MoDOT needs to do the following:

• Finish the restriping — this includes the missing right lane line on eastbound I-44, and all the ramps.
• Repaint all the faded lines — this needs to last for two years and the current condition is unacceptable. If the weather’s too cold, then perhaps they should get out there with blowtorches. That’s what I saw in New Jersey last week as road workers there used blowtorches to dry the roads in preparation for painting during cold, wet weather
• Regrind out the old lines — in too many places, the old lane lines still appear white. They need to be ground out again.

If MoDOT expects I-44 to take up the most traffic from the Highway 40 shutdown, then they need to get this restriping right. And the “temporary situation” excuse won’t cut it. If someone’s in an accident due to these poor lane lines, they won’t care if the situation was there for a day or a year. If it isn’t safe, it needs to be fixed immediately.

Each bridge closure is shown above — just click on the icons for more information. The most troubling will be the Brentwood shutdown the weekends of January 11-13 and 18-20. Eager road to I-170 may already be bogged down, so you might be best off trying McCutcheon. Or just plan ahead and get to Hanley Road from Manchester (on the south) or Clayton (on the north).

Everything you see marked in X’s will be vacant, along with another 1/2 mile east towards Spoede. This is outside the construction area, so there’s no rebuilding to do here.

Sure, I can hear Gateway Constructors complaining that they’ll need to run their dump trucks and tractors up and down this section of road, but they don’t need 8 lanes to do it! Give the community the southern half of the highway from the Ballas exit ramp to the temporary Outer Road crossover. That’s well over 5 acres of concrete!

The burning question is what to do with it? I’ve listed some ideas below and welcome yours. Only one rule: no suggestions that involve cars or trucks. They dominate enough of our roads. Besides, the neighbors deserve a break from the traffic noise.

• Bike Criterium Races — this would be a great addition to the annual Gateway Cup over Labor Day, which tours all the great sites of St. Louis: downtown, Lafayette Square, the Hill, the Loop, and now Highway 40!
• Skate Park – Skateboarders are always getting chased away from places to ride; let them rip it up on Highway 40
• Ice Rink — What until it gets below freezing, then send the fire department out to hose it down. The hilly parts would provide a better ride than Art Hill. Just don’t let MoDOT get near the area with their nearby pile of salt.
• Dog Park — let your dog “doo” on Highway 40 what you always wished you could’ve done while stuck in all those traffic jams.

What do you think St. Louis should do with all this prime concrete real estate?