St Louis Doesn't Suck

[flynavyj]

Originally Posted by moorlander

A highway with no traffic is a highway overbuilt.

Can say that, or you can say that it's a highway built for expansion. Like it or not, the burbs and exurbs are here, and there will likely be more construction further out than we're going to see closer in...simple truth, there's just more land to build out there, and lots of people want new homes...many of whom do not want to live in a concrete jungle, or glass skyscraper.

On topic though, while I am not much for turning random highways into an eight way expressway just for the sake of doing so. If you have an area of known congestion, and do nothing to address it, the planning was either short sighted or poorly done in the first place. I do like the new entrance ramps that no longer require 300 horsepower to get up to highway speed before getting creamed by an 18 wheeler though...however, i do miss those youthful days of simply flooring the accelerator while merging into traffic But gas was a whole lot cheaper back then.

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Can say that, or you can say that it's a highway built for expansion. Like it or not, the burbs and exurbs are here, and there will likely be more construction further out than we're going to see closer in...simple truth, there's just more land to build out there, and lots of people want new homes...many of whom do not want to live in a concrete jungle, or glass skyscraper.

On topic though, while I am not much for turning random highways into an eight way expressway just for the sake of doing so. If you have an area of known congestion, and do nothing to address it, the planning was either short sighted or poorly done in the first place. I do like the new entrance ramps that no longer require 300 horsepower to get up to highway speed before getting creamed by an 18 wheeler though...however, i do miss those youthful days of simply flooring the accelerator while merging into traffic But gas was a whole lot cheaper back then.

The flip side of this is that people buy in an exurb with the notion that it only takes X minutes to get to Y based upon that big, new, shiny highway. Then when they and 40,000 of their closest new neighbors set up roots some place new, they discover it now takes X +20 minutes to get there after a few years...and then they complain about congestion. News flash: it's not congested, the road is just no longer void of cars.

Then there are the long financing issues associated with increasing highway lane miles by 10%-15% a decade when the population is increasing only 4% over the same period. The problem with building new highways is that ultimately the roads get roughly as congested as they otherwise would have been without the sprawl, except now people need to travel further through the congestion to get where they need to go.

I agree with you on those ramps though. I felt like I was taking off from the deck of an aircaft carrier or something.

[yahmiefan]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Funny how all those 27 car pile-ups never made the news.
(From the poster you quoted)

http://www.14news.com/story/14082912...type=printable

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local...116728759.html

No offense, but I found articles in like two seconds from a google search. It happened on Feb 23, as you can read above. Don't claim something "never made the news" or that someone else is lying if you're too lazy to google it first. There are tons of articles on this. I was 2.5 hours late to work that day.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by yahmiefan

Massive traffic pileups, injuries in St. Louis - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

Twenty-six car pileup on I-64 injures 21 | WPSD Local 6 - News, Sports, Weather - Paducah KY | Local

No offense, but I found articles in like two seconds from a google search. It happened on Feb 23, as you can read above. Don't claim something "never made the news" or that someone else is lying if you're too lazy to google it first. There are tons of articles on this. I was 2.5 hours late to work that day.

You're new here, one can only assume you arent aware of how things work on a forum.
You are responsible to post links to back up your claims, not the other way around.

[marigolds6]

I like how the poster implied that the 27 car pileup happened in the middle of a normal commute, not during an ice storm.

A similar storm in Chicago on February 2nd resulted in drivers being stuck in their cars on Lake Shore Drive for 5-12 hours, as the city was forced to close the road because of the huge number of accidents resulted in hundreds of abandoned cars.
Chicago Snow Storm: Severe Winter Weather Closes Lake Shore Drive, Strands Travelers
City Defends Lake Shore Drive Decision, Apologizes For Problems « CBS Chicago