MoDOT posted this PDF file today in regards to safety on the I-270 mainline from 367 to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Almost the entire section is rated poor or very poor in regards to safety. (Note: this link is only up until April 28.)
The deadline of submitting comments is April 28. (Please use I-270 North Corridor Study Comment for the subject line.)
At the very least one state has now come forward to admit safety is a big problem on the bridge. Now the waiting begins for IDOT to step up to the plate and tell the truth.
Yesterdays tractor-trailer incident happened at almost the exact same spot where the fatal incident happened on December 8. It isn't surprising that the median wall hasn't even been fixed from the first incident, and suddenly the damaged section has grown by thirty or forty feet.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Another incident and recent media attention to the I-270 corridor study
This morning, there was another incident on the bridge, this one involving two tractor-trailers getting hunged up in the median wall. This one reduced traffic to one lane in each direction for approximately 2 hours. KMOV has photos here about the incident.
The local news media is also giving the I-270 North Corridor study that is tomorrow some publicity as well. At least two stations have put it on the news, including KTVI and KMOV. It time to tell MoDOT that no matter what you do on 270 in North County, the biggest issue is actually east of 367.
The local news media is also giving the I-270 North Corridor study that is tomorrow some publicity as well. At least two stations have put it on the news, including KTVI and KMOV. It time to tell MoDOT that no matter what you do on 270 in North County, the biggest issue is actually east of 367.
Monday, April 11, 2011
the new IDOT 5 year plan screws over the 270 corridor
The new IDOT 5-year plan has confirmed that they rather budget their money anywhere but the I-270 corridor. Out of the $11.6B plan, just $103M is planned for the I-270 corridor, and all of that is to replace those canal bridges during FY 2012. Two other known projects that were on the FY 2011-2016 plan have been withdrawn from the new plan. One of them was a rumored corridor study between the river to Route 111, which is desperately needed. The public really needs to give IDOT some major heat for this. Their neighbors across the river is not shy about the issues on the I-270 corridor, and the locals over there have been known to unload some serious heat to MoDOT in regards to the issues on 270 in North County in the past.
Historically, IDOT has never gave a care to the I-270 corridor in the Metro East. They have proven time and time again that they would rather spend the funds beefing up other corridors that don't provide a direct relief to the I-270 corridor. It took the Alton-River Bend area over twenty years to get IDOT to cave into pressure to replace the Clark Bridge and IDOT decides to botch the design of the Illinois approaches to the replacement bridge with short single turn lanes from IL 143 and US 67 (not to mention not fully completing them until 2 years after it opened). As a result, every time that things go wrong on the CoR Bridge, those people that rely on the Clark Bridge get royally screwed over. (Actually anything that goes wrong between Lilac and Route 3 have been known to clog up Route 143 around the Clark Bridge.) As you know, the Clark Bridge is the main alternate crossing to the CoR Bridge, and vice versa. IDOT is on the hook of maintaining both bridges, and the only things that seem to go on is basic maintenance and inspections and nothing else.
In December 2010, there was not one but two bridge closing wrecks on the CoR. The first one got tons of news coverage, not only for the fact it involved a fatality, but it happened right before the morning peak period. Two of the daily newspapers had totally different views in reporting that incident. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch talked about the incident and little about the aftermath; the Alton Telegraph talked about the backups leading to the Clark Bridge and little about the incident. The second one came on a Sunday afternoon less than two weeks later and got little news coverage because nobody got hurt and the local TV stations rarely do news at that time during the football season. Both times, traffic on 143 leading to the Clark Bridge backed up, due in part of that single short left turn lane.
What fallout came as a result of those incidents? It appears nothing has been done, as IDOT is still got their hands stuck in that I-70 project that won't directly affect the traffic impacts on the CoR and Clark Bridges, and spending nights and weekends screwing over 55/70 just east of 64. Getting IDOT to run their mouth on the 270 corridor is nothing but a sore subject, and they been doing everything in their power to avoid that issue. The August 1994 incident gave the news media all the tools needed to really expose IDOT, however, there was no such thing as social networking like there is today and the Internet was still three years away. If that stuff was around back then, IDOT would had to absorb some major heat just like MoDOT did with the Highway 40 trash truck accident that happened just 4 years later.
So what did December 8 incident did? The locals went to the comment section of the news articles about the incident and exploited the bridge design. The people that use the bridge on a regular basis are convinced that changes need to be made. Some of them have gone as far as change their job or their residence just so they could avoid the bridge. Read this interesting GraniteCityGossip post from the December 8 incident.
However, given the historical stance that IDOT has had since the 1960s, it appears its going to take another nasty incident or two before they'll face the music and realize that they made a big mistake in pushing the new downtown bridge for I-70. MoDOT for a long time was reluctant in doing any funding for that bridge and for good reason - they're already on the hook for the Poplar St. Bridge and the so called bi-state agreement would put MoDOT on the hook for this one as well.
Since the next bad incident can't be predicted (although all the contributing factors are in place), the locals need to start telling their local representatives to start giving some serious heat to IDOT. IDOT will eventually crack under pressure, they have done that time and time again on the other corridors.
Historically, IDOT has never gave a care to the I-270 corridor in the Metro East. They have proven time and time again that they would rather spend the funds beefing up other corridors that don't provide a direct relief to the I-270 corridor. It took the Alton-River Bend area over twenty years to get IDOT to cave into pressure to replace the Clark Bridge and IDOT decides to botch the design of the Illinois approaches to the replacement bridge with short single turn lanes from IL 143 and US 67 (not to mention not fully completing them until 2 years after it opened). As a result, every time that things go wrong on the CoR Bridge, those people that rely on the Clark Bridge get royally screwed over. (Actually anything that goes wrong between Lilac and Route 3 have been known to clog up Route 143 around the Clark Bridge.) As you know, the Clark Bridge is the main alternate crossing to the CoR Bridge, and vice versa. IDOT is on the hook of maintaining both bridges, and the only things that seem to go on is basic maintenance and inspections and nothing else.
In December 2010, there was not one but two bridge closing wrecks on the CoR. The first one got tons of news coverage, not only for the fact it involved a fatality, but it happened right before the morning peak period. Two of the daily newspapers had totally different views in reporting that incident. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch talked about the incident and little about the aftermath; the Alton Telegraph talked about the backups leading to the Clark Bridge and little about the incident. The second one came on a Sunday afternoon less than two weeks later and got little news coverage because nobody got hurt and the local TV stations rarely do news at that time during the football season. Both times, traffic on 143 leading to the Clark Bridge backed up, due in part of that single short left turn lane.
What fallout came as a result of those incidents? It appears nothing has been done, as IDOT is still got their hands stuck in that I-70 project that won't directly affect the traffic impacts on the CoR and Clark Bridges, and spending nights and weekends screwing over 55/70 just east of 64. Getting IDOT to run their mouth on the 270 corridor is nothing but a sore subject, and they been doing everything in their power to avoid that issue. The August 1994 incident gave the news media all the tools needed to really expose IDOT, however, there was no such thing as social networking like there is today and the Internet was still three years away. If that stuff was around back then, IDOT would had to absorb some major heat just like MoDOT did with the Highway 40 trash truck accident that happened just 4 years later.
So what did December 8 incident did? The locals went to the comment section of the news articles about the incident and exploited the bridge design. The people that use the bridge on a regular basis are convinced that changes need to be made. Some of them have gone as far as change their job or their residence just so they could avoid the bridge. Read this interesting GraniteCityGossip post from the December 8 incident.
However, given the historical stance that IDOT has had since the 1960s, it appears its going to take another nasty incident or two before they'll face the music and realize that they made a big mistake in pushing the new downtown bridge for I-70. MoDOT for a long time was reluctant in doing any funding for that bridge and for good reason - they're already on the hook for the Poplar St. Bridge and the so called bi-state agreement would put MoDOT on the hook for this one as well.
Since the next bad incident can't be predicted (although all the contributing factors are in place), the locals need to start telling their local representatives to start giving some serious heat to IDOT. IDOT will eventually crack under pressure, they have done that time and time again on the other corridors.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
MoDOT announces I-270 North County study date
Found this out via Twitter this morning:
Now is the time to let MoDOT have it with the reasons why change needs to be made on the section of 270 from 367 to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Click here to read their details.
Update 12:45 PM: MoDOT announced a 2 PM press conference today and it includes impacts for I-270 though its at I-44.
Update 2:30 PM: IDOT announces their new 5-year plan. Besides the canal bridge project, it appears that they still don't give a care for 270 on the Illinois side of the river. Take note in some of the District 8 papers that Missouri is the lead agency for the new I-70 Bridge project. None of this is surprising, in fact its merely a coincidence that 270 on the Missouri side is in better shape than 270 on the Illinois side.
Last but not least: IDOT doing overnight lane restrictions on the Canal Bridge starting the 18th.
Don't forget to read this blog from a different blogger that frequently sends tweets.
MoDOT_StLouis MoDOT St. Louis Area
MoDOT News Release - MoDOT holds Public Meeting on I-270 North Corridor Study on April 14
Now is the time to let MoDOT have it with the reasons why change needs to be made on the section of 270 from 367 to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Click here to read their details.
Update 12:45 PM: MoDOT announced a 2 PM press conference today and it includes impacts for I-270 though its at I-44.
Update 2:30 PM: IDOT announces their new 5-year plan. Besides the canal bridge project, it appears that they still don't give a care for 270 on the Illinois side of the river. Take note in some of the District 8 papers that Missouri is the lead agency for the new I-70 Bridge project. None of this is surprising, in fact its merely a coincidence that 270 on the Missouri side is in better shape than 270 on the Illinois side.
Last but not least: IDOT doing overnight lane restrictions on the Canal Bridge starting the 18th.
Don't forget to read this blog from a different blogger that frequently sends tweets.
Friday, April 1, 2011
spring is here and more proof congestion is happening
The St. Louis traffic twitter feed from Gateway Guide is still being monitored, but the last two weeks have been slow compared to recent weeks, with just a single stall in the middle of the night being reported and nothing else. This been somewhat a surprise, as the feeds were common from the previous six weeks starting from early February. However, with summer approaching and the road construction (and bridge inspections) starting up, the number of incidents and delays will start to increase again. Historically, off-peak and weekend closures during the spring and summer months have been common for the past two decades due to various patching, expansion joint repair, and inspection jobs. Don't expect 2011 to be any different from previous years.
IDOT is planning on doing a weekend closure of 55/70 between 64 and 203 next weekend for bridge demolition, so expect heavier than normal traffic on April 9 and 10. (This is weather permitting, though.)
Speaking of heavy traffic, this still from the Gateway Guide 270/Riverview camera should prove the capacity issue during peak periods:
EW Gateway has put the Level of Service (LOS) at a D from Riverview to Route 3. This is surprising, as recent amounts of traffic during peak periods should suggest it should be an E or an F. Any incident that happens in this area puts traffic at an standstill, especially when it happens during peak periods. In the past month, there has been three incidents during peak periods that caused backups over 5 miles long, and only one of those incidents happened on the bridge. (The other two I briefly described them in earlier posts; and I posted the tweet on the third.) This document that also dates from 2004 that details some of the Metro-East needs also talks about capacity needs. Allegedly its a low priority compared to all the other needs on the list panned out since 2004. The new I-70 Mississippi River Bridge has some interesting points from this document:
When IDOT starts putting out the orange barrels this year for the construction season, the off-peak congestion will obviously be there, and weekend hassles are not out of the question. Although IDOT is spending their time fixing up 55/70, don't expect the 270 corridor to be let off the hook. Much of it is 45-46 years old and is already showing its age. The last hardcore work done on that corridor happened 13-15 years ago and most of it is showing signs of wear and tear. The bridge decks on the canal bridge is in terrible shape, the river bridge is going in that same direction, and the pavement is rough and loaded with potholes (even though much of it was done in 2008). Decades of heavy truck traffic (20% to 25% of all traffic in spots) has contributed to much of the deterioration, and it is common to find overweight trucks on the corridor just to avoid the weigh station on westbound 55/70 near Collinsville. Trucks also use the 270 corridor to Route 4 east of Troy just to bypass the weigh station on eastbound 64 near Shiloh. Route 4, despite being 2 lanes and hilly, has a high truck percent between 270 and 64. The truck AADT on 270 west of 255 never dips below 10,000 while the truck AADT on 55/70 west of 255 does not top 10,000 until the merge with 64. (The overall AADT on 270 w/0 255 is in the high 50s; while 55/70 w/0 255 stays in the high 40s until the merge with 64.)
IDOT is planning on doing a weekend closure of 55/70 between 64 and 203 next weekend for bridge demolition, so expect heavier than normal traffic on April 9 and 10. (This is weather permitting, though.)
Speaking of heavy traffic, this still from the Gateway Guide 270/Riverview camera should prove the capacity issue during peak periods:
EW Gateway has put the Level of Service (LOS) at a D from Riverview to Route 3. This is surprising, as recent amounts of traffic during peak periods should suggest it should be an E or an F. Any incident that happens in this area puts traffic at an standstill, especially when it happens during peak periods. In the past month, there has been three incidents during peak periods that caused backups over 5 miles long, and only one of those incidents happened on the bridge. (The other two I briefly described them in earlier posts; and I posted the tweet on the third.) This document that also dates from 2004 that details some of the Metro-East needs also talks about capacity needs. Allegedly its a low priority compared to all the other needs on the list panned out since 2004. The new I-70 Mississippi River Bridge has some interesting points from this document:- Hourly capacity of the Chain of Rocks Bridge is approximately 3700 vehicles per hour.
- Projected AADT for 2020 at 71,100 with westbound peak hour right at 3700 vehicles if the No Build plan was selected.
When IDOT starts putting out the orange barrels this year for the construction season, the off-peak congestion will obviously be there, and weekend hassles are not out of the question. Although IDOT is spending their time fixing up 55/70, don't expect the 270 corridor to be let off the hook. Much of it is 45-46 years old and is already showing its age. The last hardcore work done on that corridor happened 13-15 years ago and most of it is showing signs of wear and tear. The bridge decks on the canal bridge is in terrible shape, the river bridge is going in that same direction, and the pavement is rough and loaded with potholes (even though much of it was done in 2008). Decades of heavy truck traffic (20% to 25% of all traffic in spots) has contributed to much of the deterioration, and it is common to find overweight trucks on the corridor just to avoid the weigh station on westbound 55/70 near Collinsville. Trucks also use the 270 corridor to Route 4 east of Troy just to bypass the weigh station on eastbound 64 near Shiloh. Route 4, despite being 2 lanes and hilly, has a high truck percent between 270 and 64. The truck AADT on 270 west of 255 never dips below 10,000 while the truck AADT on 55/70 west of 255 does not top 10,000 until the merge with 64. (The overall AADT on 270 w/0 255 is in the high 50s; while 55/70 w/0 255 stays in the high 40s until the merge with 64.)
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