What is traffic like in St. Louis? (From downtown to airport area) (Lambert: loft)

[misterko]

Hey guys, I plan on moving to St. Louis next year and will be working near the Lambert airport. I want to live in the downtown area but was wondering how traffic is at rush hours and about how long it would take?

Thanks for any help!

[flynavyj]

It'll be great. Most folks in St. Louis live in the county and commute towards the city, so going from the city to the county during the morning is a non-event.

For some odd reason, I've noticed more traffic in the afternoons coming back towards the city along I-70. I'd imagine much of it was traffic revolving around the cardinal baseball season, but can't guarantee that.

Either way, St. Louis rush hour traffic is a joke compared to most major cities. It lasts for an hour or so, and never gets gridlocked the way you'd see in DC, LA, or Chicago.

[misterko]

Ah thats great news to hear. Thanks for the help!

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

It'll be great. Most folks in St. Louis live in the county and commute towards the city, so going from the city to the county during the morning is a non-event.

For some odd reason, I've noticed more traffic in the afternoons coming back towards the city along I-70. I'd imagine much of it was traffic revolving around the cardinal baseball season, but can't guarantee that.

Either way, St. Louis rush hour traffic is a joke compared to most major cities. It lasts for an hour or so, and never gets gridlocked the way you'd see in DC, LA, or Chicago.

I agree with your conclusion, that he should not worry too much about traffic, but I'm not so sure you are correct that most folks commute from the county to the city anymore:

Jobs migrate across St. Louis region : Stltoday

The census data shows jobs are all over the metro. A lot of that traffic you are seeing is probably city residents coming home from working in the county.

[misterko]

How about the metro? Is it a good way of commuting from downtown to the airport area? I'm from a town doesn't really have a public transit so I forgot that was an option in St. Louis. Looking from the map there is a lot of paths but don't know how much of a hassle or how long it would take since it would require switching trains and would save a lot of money on gas.

[Dawn10am]

I don't think it'd take more than 20 minutes on the metro from downtown, plus the time spent walking to and from the stations and waiting on a train. The red line arrives every 6 minutes during the rush hours and every 12 minutes otherwise.

[flynavyj]

metro is an option, as long as you live close to a station downtown you won't have to worry about switching trains. What you'll have to contend with is getting from the airport (East/Main Terminals) to wherever you want to go...so you'll likely have to transfer to a bus, likely at the North Hanley station, then ride to wherever you're going...which could have an additional bus transfer involved as well.

Metro from North Hanley to Downtown took me approximately 30-40 minutes when I used it...I'm sure someone on here will be able to give you a link to the metrolink website so you can plan your path accordingly.

As to the traffic, I totally agree that many jobs have moved away from the central business district of downtown. But I can guarantee you that the majority of folks who work in what few downtown high-rises we have left, probably don't live downtown. There's been a boom in population down there, which largely resulted from the loft space being created out of old warehouses, but the reason the gains were so significant was because of house sparsely populated the area was prior to the loft construction.

Consider the million residents who live in St. Louis County, it would only make logical sense that there will be more folks commuting from that location towards the city, than city folks coming back from the county...unless every job has moved out of the city. :P And I (as one of those County -> City Commuters) know that isn't the case.