Exactly 14 years ago from tomorrow, a trash truck wrecked on the eastbound I-70 approach ramp to the Poplar Street Bridge. Truck wrecks on the approach ramps to/from the Poplar Street Bridge were common and this appeared to be no different. Well, this trash truck had its boom out and that boom struck a pier for the eastbound Highway 40 approach, damaging that pier beyond repair. MoDOT was forced to shut down both approach ramps, setting off a afternoon peak period of chaos for Illinois-bound drivers. (The Cardinals played a day game on that very date and the fact the Cards lost the game did not help matters at all.) This cause a good six weeks of traffic nightmares for drivers using I-44 and I-55 – with two approach ramps out of commission the traffic from four different interstates were forced into the single lane approach for I-55. The traffic backups often started on I-44 at Jefferson, where most of the Highway 40 drivers was using to get to 44. Illinois drivers often opted to use the JB Bridge during this crisis, and today people can often see the congestion on 270 at 44 that still exists to the day. Almost all “permit load” truck traffic in the area now use the JB Bridge, as the Chain of Rocks Bridge on I-270 is simply too narrow (and toss in legal weight restrictions on the canal bridge for good measure) to be useful.
Most of the key St. Clair County officials were around when that wreck happened in some form or another. That wreck should had spooked them into realizing that those ramps were dangerous. Now it appears that they don’t give a damn about the safety of those ramps, and is pleading with MoDOT to keep the ramp after the new I-70 bridge opens in 2014. They are using the excuse of the loss of traffic from Route 3. While the Route 3 ramp did back up during the peak periods, it only made for a small percentage of traffic on the Poplar Street Bridge. The backups were from people trying to get in the left lanes for Highway 40, because the ramp leading to I-44/55 was already backed up. The times people used the Route 3 exit was people that headed home to Cahokia or during the evenings when Pops or another one of Sauget’s nightclubs had a big function – and those functions often happened only on weekends.
Well, many of MoDOT’s key engineers were also around in 1998, and they started planning out what they wanted to do after the new bridge opened. One of the first things they wanted gone was that I-70 ramp, so they can replace the I-44/55 ramp from the bridge with a two-lane ramp. MoDOT put up a $55M price tag for their project. They wanted the ramp gone, especially after they spent over $500M to rebuild Highway 40 from 2007-2009 to add a fully functional interchange with I-170.
Well St. Clair County got pissed when the media started posting MoDOT plans on the news last month. The Belleville News-Democrat posted several articles relating to the project, which in turn led to East-West Gateway to hold an emergency meeting yesterday. St. Clair County fails to realize that I-55 and I-70 is only in the county for 5 miles, and the bulk of the Poplar Street Bridge traffic is from I-64. (The PSB was only designed to carry just one interstate but carries four.) I-70 only has a small percentage of the traffic compared to I-44 and I-64 – because truckers that use the I-70 corridor often use 270 around the city; the same is true for the truckers on I-55: they either use I-255 or even I-57 depending on where they’re headed. I-64 stays in St. Clair County and most of the development in St. Clair County is located along I-64. (Almost all new development since the 1970s were influenced by I-64 in some form or another; the exception being Cahokia and Sauget along I-255.)
East-West Gateway agreed to spend $40K on an adviser, but odds are that MoDOT will eventually get their way no matter how St. Clair County sees it. Madison County didn’t dispute the plans, and why would they when they know most of the I-70 traffic uses 270 anyway. (Look at the trucking-related development near the 270/255 interchange, and all the new development on Route 111 near 255.) The locals only see that portion of 55/70 as just 55, and in their hindsight, the corridor from the Chain of Rocks Bridge to the Bond/Madison County line is 270. Nobody saw Monroe County disputing the plans either, especially when they built 255 back in the mid 1980s with a new bridge down there.
Well another factor is the City to River Plan. Had the plan encouraged the removal of I-70 in favor of an improved Memorial Drive, then this ramp debate would been moot. MoDOT don’t want to get rid of the depressed section, claiming that their other north-south interstate is already congested. MoDOT fails to realize that there are other north-south corridors in the City of St. Louis: Kingshighway, Jefferson, Tucker, and Broadway. Toss in Hanley (it becomes Graham north of 270), Lindbergh, and Route 141 out in the county and the fact all are heavily used should tell MoDOT that locals will use other corridors when they have to. The depressed section will be obsolete the day the new bridge opens.
kharvey10 