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Live Chats
The Road Crew
Experts from the Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Louis and St. Louis county answer questions at 1 p.m. Aug. 8. You can tweet questions AND photos to #stlroadcrew.

by Charles Williams...on Aug 4, 2012 at 1:37 AM
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The lights are timed to work together as best as possible, but it also varies depending on the direction you are traveling and the time of day. In order to really troubleshoot your issue, it's important to note the direction and time of day. You could be traveling in the opposite of the peak flow. -
I have read some recent comments in this regard, but I remain completely frustrated by the "efforts" to provide any type of synchronization to the lights on 141 heading either north or south. Outside of the extended choke point that seems to occur between Meramec Station Rd and Marshall on a daily basis, I continue to experience getting green lights at Briarhurst only to stop at Bromfield, Carmen, Burgundy & Dutch Mill. Why or how would it ever make sense for Northbound or Southbound drivers to use this route when there's really no effort to time the lights such that a north or southbound commuter can reasonably expect to drive these roads without frequent stopping. -

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You have a very long question. For future you may want to submit these one at a time. 1. When the interchange was built, MoDOT named the road South Outer Road and signed it accordingly. Since then the city also named the road Hawk Ridge. We can take a look and see if the sign needs both names for both directions. 2. the left turn from Hawk Ridge to N I will have a traffic engineer look into. 3. The signals inside the shopping center are not controlled by MoDOT. I think they might be Lake Saint Louis. 4. We are working on a project to make some changes at the Sommers and N intersection, but in the meantime, I will have the signals checked to see what adjustments we can make. -
A few Lake St. Louis/Dardenne Prairie/O'Fallon questions for you: (1) Westbound Highway N just west of I-64 - the first major traffic light shows an overhead street sign listing Hawk Ridge Trail to the right, and South Outer Road to the left. Mapquest and other online maps show if you turn left, you are turning onto Hawk Ridge Trail, not South Outer Road, and the street signs along that road show you are traveling on Hawk Ridge Trail. Is the overhead street sign at that intersection incorrect? (2) Same intersection but turning left from Hawk Ridge Trail (South Outer Road?) onto westbound Hwy N - there is only one left turn lane and traffic backs up frequently during evening rush hour and sometimes on Saturdays. The overhead sensor appears to favor traffic going straight on Hawk Ridge into the Shoppes at Hawk Ridge. Could the sensor be realigned to view both lanes of traffic, or could the lane to the left of the left turn lane, striped yellow to be a median, be used as a second left turn lane? (3) Intersections of Hawk Ridge and Ronald Reagan Drive, and Ronald Reagan and Lila Avenue. These traffic lights are part of the shopping center. Is there any reason why they are on cycles before 6 or 6:30am? I understand school traffic will soon start at 6:30am but there seems to be no reason to have these lights on cycle before that, especially on the weekends. These lights do not appear to have the same overhead sensors that other nearby lights have. Could these lights be examined? (4 - last one) Ronald Reagan Drive crossing Highway N and becoming Sommers Road - there are two lanes for traffic to exit the shopping center, one for left turn traffic and one for straight or right turn traffic. Almost no one uses the left turn lane to exit the shopping center. That means traffic wanting to go straight or right gets caught in one lane. During school season, that lane backs up between 7 - 8am and from about 4:30 - 5:30pm - sometimes 20+ cars in line. Could the left lane become a lane for left turns and straight traffic, and the right lane could become a right turn only lane? The majority of traffic headed out of that center is turning right on Highway N. The traffic lights are set up so that only one direction of traffic turning onto or crossing Highway N has the right of way (either Sommers or Ronald Reagan, but not both ways at the same time). Thanks for the chats. -
The new bridge could be open within a matter of a few days. At the very latest, traffic will be moving across the Meramec River on it by month's end. (Although we're supervising construction, the project belongs to the City of Fenton, and it's the city's call.) David Wrone, St. Louis County -

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We will be hiring the Design-Build contractor for Page Phase 3 in early 2013. I expect by the spring we will have information to share on the design and construction should also get started right of way. We are putting a completion date on that piece to be done by end of 2014. -

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We will be looking at the traffic patterns and the signal timing at the first signals on either end of Page Avenue when the new piece opens August 30. There are lots of ways traffic might divert including the new Route 141 connection and the I-270 exits before you get to the signal at Schuetz. We will be monitoring it in September to see what changes we need to make. -
I was curious regarding the upcoming opening of Phase 2 of the Page Extension. When the new section opens on August 30th, there will be about 15 miles of unchecked wide open traffic with traffic signals bracketing the job at Schuetz Rd on the East and Florence Dr. on the West. I'm afraid that traffic going 60 mph for 15 miles will suddenly be stopped at these 2 lights on either end and that the traffic issues will not actually be any better just placed in different locations. Will the lights be timed better before opening to prevent massive backups at these 2 spots or is that an issue to be corrected in the future? -

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I saw an electronic display board on eastbound Olive near 270 stating that some sort of work will be starting soon. I didn't catch the whole message and cannot find information about this on Modot's website. What work is planned and how long will it take to complete? -

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I came from Illinois into STL on the Poplar/I-64 last night. When approaching the construction zone on the upper deck, there was on of the work lights (the one on a trailer with a large boom) shining it's bright lights directly into oncoming traffic as you try to merge into the one tight lane. It was a very dangerous situation as I could not see and I had to navigate thru a tight lane with Jersey barriers on each side. Once in the construction zone, there was a work pickup truck inthe work area facing oncoming traffic with it's lights on. Either the high beams were on on one of the lights is out of alignment. At this location there was a work crew working. I was again blinded and could not see. This could be a very dangerous situation for the workers if someone wrecks because they are blinded by bright lights facing oncoming traffic.
Could MoDot make sure the work crews are aware of this so that they could make sure their lights don't blind oncoming traffic in the construction zone? -
The issue at I-44 and 141 is just the extreme demand in one spot with a lot of access points very close together. The problem with giving 5-10 seconds more green for one direction means it comes away from another direction. The signals are timed to be focused on the peak 141 movement for the time of day, but usually in this area all the directions have heavy demand. The ultimate solution is that we need to redesign and build some major changes to the I-44 interchange. We are looking into options right now, but don't have anything planned just yet. -
What can be done about the lights at 44/141 both North and South? 141 is great before and after that in both directions, but the mornings going northbound backs up from 44 to Gladiator consistently, and sometimes back to almost Hawkins. Then in the evenings it's blocked up from 44 all the way back to sometimes almost Big Bend. To me, it is the short lights at the actual 44/141 interchange that need to be adjusted. there is not a ton of traffic that backs up for folks getting off 141 going southbound, i see no reason why the green light cannot be extended about 5 - 10 seconds. would make a HUGE difference. -

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Travelling eastbound on Arsenal cars often park on the sidewalk immediately next to Ari's restaurant. There is no signage that this is illegal and the curb is not marked. These cars often block the right of the two lanes which has caused traffic to back up there occasionally. Is there any way parking could be restricted between Ari's parking lot and the curb to open that lane up. The area near right hand lane is blocked to parked cars going westbound on Arsenal but not eastbound which seems strange. -

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My question is on the intersection at Arsenal and Hampton. Traveling on Arsenal (either east or west) there are two lanes at the intersection, however there is no indication (signage or markings on the road) of which lane should turn left, go straight, or turn right. I have noticed cars from both lanes going in the same direction (traveling both east and west) go straight though the light and it has caused some near misses since when they cross the intersection there is only one lane on the other side. Are these lanes going to be marked at some point? -

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This is a question about the traffic lights in downtown St Louis. Are there any plans to upgrade some of the lights on the major roads to be traffic sensitive?
Some of these lights see very little traffic on the cross streets, yet the light cycles give those empty streets a green light for what seems like an eternity, especially at night.
I've also noticed this on newer city streets. For example, I was on Park turning left onto Truman Parkway at 7pm last night. I waited for over a minute for the light the let me go and not one car went thru the green on Truman during that time. The light turned red on Truman and let me thru just as a group of cars were approaching the light on Truman.
Also, the lights on Market from Wells Fargo to downtown on Market could use some traffic sensing lights. The light in front of Wells Fargo cycles thru for pedestrians 24 hours a day. Why does this light cycle at 11pm when there are no pedestrians in sight? Once you get thru that light, you get to sit at Jefferson at a red light while Jefferson has a green with no cars in sight.
Then once you make it thru Jefferson, you hit every light from there to Fourth Street with not a car in sight at the cross streets. It makes a 5-10 minute drive into a 15-20 minute drive. I avoid driving thru downtown because the lights are so frustrating. -
We currently have Broadway, 10th, 14th and Clark ramps to westbound 64 because the crews have the right lane closed on the bridge. The 10th, 14th and Clark ramps should reopen in early/mid September when the right lane on westbound I-64 reopens. The Broadway ramp will remain closed as long as we have a lane closed on I-64 later this fall. -
I work downtown and now the exits on Broadway and Clark to get onto westbound 64/40 are both closed down. This is causing a lot of extra congestion on the detour exits. Its a struggle at times even to get into the backed up lanes and I end up sitting through multiple lights. Is there any indication when either of the exits will be reopened. -
I believe the striping and lanes on Olive at the 141 interchange are in the final position. I think you are just seeing the drivers getting used to the changes in the interchange and the fact that there is an interchange there with left turn lanes and there wasn't before.
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