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Subject: Gateway Connector needed?

From: Robin ..........
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 12:50 PM
To: Stop158
Subject: RE: Inquiry From Stop158 Counter-Point

Dear Stop158,

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

I am referring to those vehicles turning right. It would be so easy for
vehicles to slow down onto the shoulder and make their turn, allowing
traffic to pass rather than going from 55-60 mph to 5-10mph as they slowly
turn into their driveway. Additionally, every week at least a couple times a
week, I have to slow to a slow crawl to ease around residents who are
stopped partially on the roadway (often times going the wrong direction) so
that they can get their mail from their drivers window.

Drivers turning left do so from the middle to the right side of their lane
preventing traffic from easing around them on the shoulder. They rarely use
turn signals, and if they do so they turn them on only after they are almost
stopped.

I would welcome turning lanes or a compromise but I have serious doubts that
people will use them appropriately or that they alone would solve the long
term problem of suburban growth in the area. It seems to me that residents
along the road are still under the impression they live in the country where
you can putter along, pull up to your mailbox, drive your farm equipment
along the road, or make a sudden stop or U turn to get to a yard sale. That
time has passed. Is it sad in many ways? Yes, it is. But it is the reality.
Corn fields are plowed under every couple months to make way for more homes,
and neighborhoods. The population is increasing and the traffic will match
that growth. The infrastructure now has to support it, whether we like it or
not.

I am very interested in hearing more of your ideas for compromise and
solving the problem. There is rarely ever only one solution and I would like
to see the possibilities.

Sincerely,

Robin ......

===================================

Stop158 wrote:

Dear Robin,

Thanks for your e-mail about the road. I appreciate your taking time to
write.

Let me ask to make sure I understand your idea: When you talk about people
using the shoulder to make turns into their property, I presume you mean
people who travel the same direction as you, in front of you, making right
hand turns into their drive from the right hand shoulder? This ought to
work. But I wouldn't think right hand turns would slow things down much even
if they don?t go onto the shoulder first.

But, those who want to turn left have to wait for on-coming traffic to pass
first. I am not sure how they could turn left from a shoulder. Did you
mean the left-turners as well? Please let me know because I would like to
be sure I understand your point here, and then with your permission, I'd
post your comment on the website (without your name or e-mail address), and
send out your idea to others via e-mail on our distribution list, so more
people can get the right idea.

Our approach with IDOT has been: improve the roads without creating monster
highways we will all have to pay huge amounts to build and maintain, and
which will change the whole nature of our communities and turn small towns
into West County, where open land is about gone and one town blends into
another.

So, our approach is: put in long turn lanes at intersections where there are
problems. For example, Troy-O'Fallon & US 40. And, finally, IDOT is going
to start on this (in 2008!), by putting in right and left turn lanes for the
north-bound traffic in Troy-O'Fallon. We are trying to get them also to put
in long left and right turn lanes also for those going east and west on US
40, to reduce congestion on US 40.

Also, we support turn lanes on the Troy-O'Fallon Road/Scott-Troy Road, where
there is development, or even a third lane all the way (this would take care
of the people who need to make left-turns off of the road and would not
bring traffic to a halt, as you correctly say does sometimes happen).

So, in our view, it's a choice of simply not doing nothing, or building a
Connector. Rather, we should take the kinds of actions I outlined above.

As for the small businesses that are displaced by the big malls, etc....I
fully agree with you. Our family used to make a practice of shopping at
Western Auto, Thomas Hardware, etc., in O'Fallon, but they have been put out
of business. We support the local businesses when we can (barber shop in
O'Fallon, for example), and the local grocery store, avoid taking main roads
when we can travel side roads. But I realize that not everyone does this.
I, too, have to visit Home Depot!

Right now we are getting into the issues of Columbia Crossing in Columbia
and Creekside Promenade in O'Fallon, commercial plans in residential/rural
areas, both of which invade the areas you describe very well in your
second-to-last paragraph.

So, bottom line: we are certainly into improvements, and the guiding feature
ought to be how we maintain and improve the quality of life for folks. That
means finding the balance between your need to have a fast, safe commute,
and your need to not be taxed more than necessary; it's finding a balance
between TIF payoffs to developers and the need to rehab distressed areas and
reduce the sprawl that continues to make St. Louis metro area a place where
the air quality hasn't met health standards for years and asthmas is growing
fast...and indeed your needs (and everyone else's) as a tax payer count. So
you are correct, compromise is usually the best way, where no one wins
everything and no one loses everything.

On the road, we think turn lanes and third lanes are a good compromise.

Again, thanks for your e-mail and please let me know about the shoulder
driving thing so I can pass on your ideas.

Stop158

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin ...............
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 10:04 PM
To: Stop158
Subject: Inquiry From Stop158 Counter-Point

To Stop158,

We travel this road daily, and most times, a couple days daily from Troy to
the Air Force Base where my husband works. We would be much more willing to
support this "movement" if the people who live on this road would use the
shoulder to make their turns into their driveways and neighborhoods instead
of bringing traffic meant to go 55 mph, to a halt.

As it is however this road is impractical for the traffic it supports. This
is a main artery and it is used by farm equipment and residents coming to a
complete and total stop to make their turns. This is not
practical,convenient, or safe.

Unless a better alternative is presented for the traffic on THIS road, or an
alternate route to the base, shopping, and commerce is presented, I will
have to offer my support to a connector.

Moreover, I wonder where the outrage was when the malls, restaurants, strip
malls, commerce and new neighborhoods were being developed in O'Fallon,
Shiloh, and Fairview Heights over what was once beautiful land, trees,
farms, and wildlife habitats? How many of these same residents, who are now
miffed about their property values, shop at those places, and support the
businesses that destroyed land and property values that belonged to someone
else? I find it to be the height of hypocrisy. Conservation for personal
reasons is highly suspect. Those who only become activists when their
personal situations are in play hold little credibility for me.

The better solution is to develop a compromise that serves everyone in some
way. Without any party believing they have cornered the market on rights. I
would like a better, faster, safer route. My needs as a taxpayer count too.


Sincerely,
Robin ...............
Troy Resident