Saturday, September 20, 2008

(Head knock!) The Reason Traffic Changes Don't Cause Gridlock...

The best analogy is the policeman dispersing citizens at a crime scene or car accident..."Move along citizens, there's nothing to see here..move along." Everybody is forced to leave the scene and go another way.

They don't keep coming to the same place causing congestion, rather they go a different way and disperse. They are forced into a new routine.

People fear the change, but they cope with it. We're not sheep; we have a brain. The Hampton bridge closure over Highway 40 is the next the big test of how we cope with traffic changes. If that closure works with minimal disturbance, the new Memorial Drive idea is a brave leader away from at least a second look.

To date, there's been no clear data uncovered officially analyzing the traffic feasibility of vacating the depressed lanes in front of the Arch and replacing them with a new Memorial Drive; and, from the best we can tell, there's been no data developed stating the option won't work either. The alternative has simply never been analyzed. The default position has always been that St. Louis will live with the depressed lanes for all of our lifetimes.

STL Rising is on the lookout for any information from completed traffic studies, especially related to the new I-70 Mississippi River bridge crossing, which might shows projected traffic volumes through the depressed lanes once the new bridge is complete.

If you know of the existence of such a traffic study, we would like to hear from you. Please comment below or contact via email rbonasch@sbcglobal.net.

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