Transportation

Corridor Transportation Plans

Corridor-level transportation planning, which takes place primarily within the context of Major Transportation Investment Analyses (MTIAs), reflects both the region's concern about coordination and cooperation among the major transportation planning and implementing agencies and the need for a strategic process to evaluate and advance specific transportation investments. Corridor planning takes needs identified in the long-range plan, refines the understanding of those needs, and evaluates potential transportation strategies to address them.

The end result is the selection of an investment strategy that best meets needs in the corridor and which fits within the region's financial capacity. Corridor plans are the nexus between the long-range plan and project development. Most corridor-level planning occurs under the auspices of the Transportation Corridor Improvement Group (TCIG). The TCIG, which is housed in the Council's offices, is a permanent working group jointly staffed by employees of the Council, the Missouri Department of Transportation, and the Bi-State Development Agency.

This section contains eight work elements:

• The first element -- MetroSouth MetroLink: Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement -- outlines the work needed to evaluate and develop a preferred design (plan and profile) for a light rail alignment that extends from the future Cross-County MetroLink route in Shrewsbury to south St. Louis County. This work is subsequent to an MTIA in the Cross-County Corridor and the Board of Directors adoption of the MetroSouth light rail extension as part of the locally preferred alternative emerging from that study, and the work is anticipated to be completed by mid-summer 2005.
   
• The second element – Northside and Southside MetroLink (City of St. Louis) Conceptual Design  -- summarizes the work needed to evaluate and develop a conceptual design for major transit alignments that extend from downtown St. Louis through the northside and southside of the City. The work is predicated on MTIAs conducted for the Northside and Southside corridors and the Board of Director's adoption, in 2000, of preferred transit alternatives in those corridors. The work is anticipated to require 18 months to complete.
   
• The next two elements -- Transportation Corridor Planning in Missouri and Illinois -- encompass the work required to define future needs for MTIAs in corridors throughout the region, to establish priorities among potential corridor studies, to complete the preliminary work to proceed with the studies, as appropriate, and to participate in MTIAs and other corridor studies sponsored by other agencies outside the context of the Transportation Corridor Improvement Group. Work within the element would also define institutional responsibilities for any emerging MTIAs.
   
• The fifth element – New Design Strategies for Urban Arterial Streets – identifies a proactive process for designing urban transportation infrastructure (highway, transit, pedestrian, bicycle) to better fit within and meet the needs of communities. The work involves a community planning process to examine how infrastructure design enhances accessibility, mobility, and community vitality, to create design strategies and templates for maximizing the effectiveness of transportation assets, and to develop transferable practices for use throughout the region.
   
• The sixth element – Madison County MetroLink Feasibility Study -- outlines the study to examine the general costs, impacts, and benefits of extending light rail transit into Madison County.  The study is evaluating possible light rail alignments; the capital and operating costs associated with those alignments; ridership; social, economic, and environmental impacts; and financial requirements. The study will be completed by mid-summer 2005.
   
• The final two elements – Impact of Regional Traffic Growth and Development on Highway System Operation: MO 370 and I-270; I-70 Second Tier Environmental Study – describe work being sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation to evaluate traffic operations on the Interstate system in northwest St. Louis County and to examine route alternatives for the section of I-70 that extends west from Lake St. Louis to Montgomery City. That section is just one of seven segments of I-70 across Missouri under simultaneous study to determine the future alignment and configuration of I-70, statewide.