Apr

8

Green lighting 71 Highway?

April 8, 2005 |

A brief mention on WDAF-TV this morning that the latest crash at the stoplights on US 71 Hwy/Bruce Watkins Drive might be the final straw. It appears that the city might be about to open the issue of removing the traffic lights and converting the parkway section of the road into a real highway.

It should be very interesting to see how this goes over in the community. The proposed highway was opposed for years because of fears that it would destroy the southeast neighborhoods in the same way that I-70 ripped through the East Side. The traffic lights and crosswalks were a compromise that not surprisingly lead to chronic accidents from the very beginning.

Also interesting will be finding millions of dollars for the necessary overpasses and ramps. The city just dealt with a $25 million budget deficit, and we all know hard it is to squeeze any money out of MoDOT.


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Jason on April 8, 2005 9:57 pm

    Seems to me that back when the B.R.W. was in the planning stages the black community threw a fit about an actual highway splitting their neighborhood in half. So what has changed since then? Some grisly accidents? Sad as those are they happen all the time all over the place. I think the bigger issue is how much those lights impace travel time through the B.R.W. corridor. I personally never drive it in rush hour… once was enough. I don’t see the black community agreeing to the removal of those lights.

  2. Mustang 23 on April 9, 2005 10:45 pm

    I sure hope they remove the lights. It would make things so much safer. I have been in a wreck just sitting there at a light. I was minding my own business when someone hit me from behind because they couldn’t slow down from High-way speeds.

    It needs to be fixed!

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind