Is it time for local communities to take ownership of MoDOT roads? The case of Gravois in St. Louis | nextSTL

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

If the city street in front of your home were posted with a 35MPH speed limit would you feel safe? If one of every seven vehicles on the street travelled faster than 47MPH would you be OK letting your children play on the sidewalk or cross the street? . . .

Gravois Avenue, among other city streets, is maintained and administered by the Missouri Department of Transportation. This means that the streets inherently serve a statewide purpose. This means that the role of the street is to move as many vehicles as quickly as possible through the City of St. Louis.

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Is it time for local communities to take ownership of MoDOT roads? The case of Gravois in St. Louis | nextSTL

MoBikeFed comment: Among other things, the current state transportation funding crisis creates the opportunity to explores ideas like turning Gravois back over to the local community.

If leaders will not explore options like that, then MoDOT needs to operate roads like Gravois as local communities would, with the impact on the local community uppermost in on the priority list for these and similar roads around the state.

Big, fast MoDOT roads through the center of Missouri communities are currently the largest impediment to safe walking and bicycling in communities across Missouri.

Slowing motor vehicle traffic speeds on roads like this is one of the few proven ways to dramatically reduce injuries and fatalities while making the corridor more accessible to citizens who use transit, bicycling, and walking. And this approach simultaneously adds economic value to the corridor, because businesses, shopping, and adjacent neighborhoods are more valuable when people who visit can safely access the area on foot.