It's bigger than Highway 40

By John Roach, 01/24/2008

Despite weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, most of the metropolitan area seems to have survived the closing of U.S. Highway 40/Interstate 64 with body and soul intact. The behavior of the Missouri Department of Transportation and that of its arrogant and imperious major domo, Pete Rahn, remain properly subject to criticism.

The underlying premise of the department's policies — that all problems are solved by additional highway capacity — is unacceptable as a basis for future policy. By its very name, the department advertises its mission of providing transportation; in that mission, the department has failed.

The endless sprawl that characterizes the St. Louis community is a product of the ceaseless effort to pave substantial portions of the landscape to serve the economic interests of the home-building, auto and oil industries. The result of increased capacity — as is the case wherever the expansion of roadway capacity has been the policy priority— has been recurring congestion, followed by the addition of capacity, followed by renewed congestion and more and more sprawl.

It would be one thing if the consequences of this policy merely were a welter of copycat subdivisions, McMansions, congested roadways, a parade of fast-food, big-box retailers and miscellaneous examples of "Roadside America." But along with the ugliness, these policies also have helped foster global warming, social isolation, accelerating gas prices and more time-consuming and resource-wasting commutes.

Highway proponents seem to have overlooked the alternative model of efficient rail transportation. The concentration of development occurring along the light-rail lines enhances walking neighborhoods, places where the purchase of each loaf of bread or tube of toothpaste does not require an auto trip requiring added roadway capacity, added parking lots and garages and added pollution.

There is no denying that the latest expansion of MetroLink was managed poorly and suffered from ruinous cost overruns. However, the first two phases of the system were not similarly cursed, and they continue to provide superior service to patrons at modest operating cost and manageable capital investment. Ultimately, the Shrewsbury extension will provide long and productive service while spurring desirable development in its wake. The answer for future expansions is to ensure careful, cost-conscious management and good planning.

Neither is it possible to deny the reality of the transportation system that we — the public and the road builders — have created. So what do we do now? Obviously, we cannot start over. Our roadways must be kept safe and, insofar as feasible, attractive, including landscaping, screening and other decorative and functional elements.

But there is a bigger picture, and roadways must become part of a system that includes a variety of modes of transportation — rail, bus, auto, walking — each of which performs its function while interconnecting easily and efficiently and in balance with communities.

There are cities that have pursued this noble goal with considerable success; Portland, Ore., Toronto, and many European cities are prime examples. The St. Louis region should learn from and emulate these examples, rather than merely complaining about MoDOT, even as we accept its underlying faulty premise.