Messenger: An uproar in Chesterfield puts curb islands on hold. 'They didn't ask us.'
CHESTERFIELD — To understand the west St. Louis County brouhaha I'm calling CurbGate, it's important to begin with this salient fact: People generally hate Clarkson Road.
This is the north-south roadway that connects Manchester Road in Ellisville to Interstate 64 in Chesterfield. During rush hour in the morning and afternoon, it's packed. Don't even think of getting caught in the drop-off traffic outside Marquette High School. And in the middle of the day, or at night, when the road is as wide open as an airport runway, beware the Chesterfield or Clarkson Valley speed trap waiting to catch you.
When construction workers started placing concrete islands in the shoulders of the road last month, my first thought was a positive one. I figured they were making a protected bicycle lane that could add a little life and public utility to the big, wide road.
My wife set me straight. "I hate them," she said of the new contraptions upon getting home one day.
She paused, made sure I was listening and repeated the phrase with a bit more vexation. "I. Hate. Them."
She's not alone.
The curb cuts, or islands, or whatever you want to call them, are several feet long and feature three poles that poke up. They've created quite a bit of angst. It's come mostly from Chesterfield, where the islands have been placed by the Missouri Department of Transportation along Clarkson and Long roads. It turns out they're a safety measure, intended to slow down traffic.
"No one saw this coming," wrote two Chesterfield 4th Ward council members, Merrell Hansen and Gary Budoor, in a letter to a group of homeowners who are upset about the project. "It is clear, from Ward 4 resident calls and emails, that many of us are skeptical of these islands and wonder if they will do more harm than good. The intent of the program has merit — we all want safe roads. The question is, are these measures going to help or hurt?"
The MoDOT project is part of a $52 million effort in the St. Louis region to improve safety. On roads that are as wide as Clarkson and Long, there is a tendency for people to speed, the state's engineers believe, and the curb islands are intended to make a road feel smaller so people slow down.
"Using industry practices, MoDOT analyzed crash histories on state and St. Louis County roads to select routes where installation of safety counter measures could realize a reduction in crashes," MoDOT spokesperson Marie Elliott told me in an email. "Each location will have one or more of a variety of safety improvements, including signal upgrades, additional signing, and others with the goal of reducing over 170 fatal and serious crashes over the next ten years."
The "curb bump out islands," as MoDOT calls them, are a version of the "Ingrassia balls" on the south side of St. Louis. Those are the cylindrical concrete abutments named by some folks after former Alderman Christine Ingrassia. They were placed on some city roads to not block traffic but instead slow it down. They were installed after a robust public hearing process.
In this case, because Clarkson and Long are state roads, there was no public process, at least not one run by Chesterfield. And that's one reason why so many folks are upset, says Mayor Robert Nation.
"They didn't notify us," Nation told me in an interview. "They didn't ask us. It's a MoDOT roadway so they have the full authority to do with it what they want."
Nation said his phone has been ringing off the hook. Last week, he spoke to MoDOT officials, who told him they put the project on hold because there wasn't enough public engagement.
"They apologized and acknowledged that they dropped the ball there," Nation said.
But that doesn't mean the islands already in place are coming off. And that's worrisome to folks who wonder what will happen when they get hit by a snowplow, or when folks try to move over for an ambulance and find out they can't.
"I highly doubt that the curb medians will slow traffic," says Stephen Kushner, who lives in Wilson View Estates along Clarkson Road. "They fail as a solution but are not benign. They create multiple unintended possibilities for mayhem. To top it off, it's a foolish waste of precious road funds."
At least one person disagrees with the unhappy residents. Jackson Hotaling is the community engagement director for Missourians for Responsible Transportation, a Columbia-based nonprofit that advocates for pedestrians, wheelchair users, bicyclists and mass transit users. Hotaling was in town last week to examine the project along Clarkson Road. He likes it.
For people who use their bicycles as a primary mode of transportation, as he does, they're "better than nothing," Hotaling says. "They provide a barrier, whereas before there was no protection."
In an emailed statement, MoDOT said it won't install any more curb islands while it "reviews this situation."
If the state agency would like public comments as part of that CurbGate review, my wife and thousands of other Facebook users have a few choice words they can offer.
Metro columnist
