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What does "white flight" have to do with frontage roads? There are plenty of areas in this country that developed at the apex of "white flight" and don't have frontage roads.
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Originally Posted by urbanologist
Frontage roads are also in St Louis so how that ties into "white flight" is beyond me.
It has everything to do with how St Chuck was built out with the frontage roads.
The build out along I70 was very willy-nilly and with very little forethought or supervision.
Shocking, the KC photo spammer disses Indy once again. Is there a city you dislike more than Indy? I'm guessing you're opinion of the city is based on driving through it on I-70 a few times. (Nah, this is the internet, you'll say you've got family here or something and you've spent a considerable amount of time here and we'll be expected to believe it.)
Personally, you're beloved KC, which you believe is the brightest beacon of western civilization, does not compare to Indy very well and I know this from living in both. You're a homer so I don't expect you to understand why, but I digress.
As for this comparison, I actually love both cities and believe that both have something different to offer. If I were looking for a great urban neighborhood to live in the StL wins hands down. For anything else, Indy all the way.
You know, it's okay to like some cities better than others. I have spent a great deal of time in just about all the bigger cities in the country and I rank them according to my tastes on cities.
First off, KC is far from my favorite city. It's just my hometown and I'm pretty passionate about the place. I wouldn't even rank it in the top ten as far as my favorite cities. I get ripped pretty hard by the kc peepes when I post that places like Denver and Minneapolis are better than KC. I do however think KC is extremely underrated as few know even the slightest thing about the place, even a good portion of the people that live there and yea, I like KC better than Indy for reasons that I have already posted.
It feels larger, more urban and has more of the things to do that I enjoy doing. It's a large, regional, established, city with an interesting and vibrant urban core and so I think KC offers more than a city like Indy or OKC or Nashville or Charlotte and will defend and promote KC against those places even though that doesn't mean I don't like those places. But then I will also say where KC comes up short against St Loius, Denver, Seattle etc which makes the kc people think I hate KC!
So, if KC trumps Indy, then StL surly does because I like StL slightly better than KC for some of the same reasons I like KC better than Indy.
StLouis is far more urban and built up and simply larger than Indy. StL has MLB and NHL plus NFL (I don't care about NBA). StL has more vibrant urban neighborhoods, StL has a large theme park right in the city, fox theater, Forest Park, a much more appealing topography etc. StL is just a much more appealing city to me than Indy.
I don't dislike Indy, I just find it somewhat overated and minor leaguish and in a part of the country (central indiana) that I don't care for. That said, I would still probably rank Indy in my top 20 city list simply because the area still has 2 million people (about my minimum), it's close to many other major cities and it's not in the far south or in texas. It's just not my favorite place.
It has everything to do with how St Chuck was built out with the frontage roads.
The build out along I70 was very willy-nilly and with very little forethought or supervision.
Usually frontage roads are there to to help relieve some of the congestion off the interstate and other local roads so you have less bottle neck at the exits. It's designed to separate "local traffic" from the interstate and other local roads to keep the traffic moving.
Usually frontage roads are there to to help relieve some of the congestion off the interstate and other local roads so you have less bottle neck at the exits. It's designed to separate "local traffic" from the interstate and other local roads to keep the traffic moving.
But they keep all the traffic right in the interstate corridor rather than spreading it out and is creates almost zero mixed use opportunities. Commercial development is along the freeway and residential is behind the commercial.
It's not the traffic that I don't like about frontage roads, it's just how ugly the corridors can get aesthetically especially as they age.
Some of the older stretches freeway in the DFW area and San Antonio, Houston etc just looks terrible with deteriorating strip malls, tall commercial signs, vacate chain restaurants etc and the rural areas are just cluttered with freeway frontage development even in rural areas like between Dallas and Waco.
There is only a small stretch of frontage road development in StLouis while it is pretty cluttered out there.
I don't think the frontage roads in StL (st charles) are one-way with u-turn ramps like what most of Texas has. That (two way frontage roads) makes traffic flow much more complicated and less efficient. But I think it actually helps keep the area vibrant (leased). True texas one-way frontage roads with the texas u-turns can be hard on retail and restaurants due to complicated access.
It's easier for trucks to get on and off interstates rather than look for a parking lot to get turned around in if going the wrong way. Also the businesses are closer to access to the freeway. The great thing about Texas u truns is not waiting for a stupid light that takes forever to change while holding everyone up.
Usually frontage roads are there to to help relieve some of the congestion off the interstate and other local roads so you have less bottle neck at the exits. It's designed to separate "local traffic" from the interstate and other local roads to keep the traffic moving.
The build out was enormous, and happened very quickly.
St Chuck county was one of the fastest growing counties in the US in the late 60s- early 70s.
Both are great midwestern cities, Ive been to both of them and I love both.
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