MoDot and FHWA have issued a FONSI (Finding Of No Significant Impact) for the Page-Olive Connector. This despite never conducting an Environmental Impact Study and the voicing of strong concerns voiced by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
This does not bode well for the wetlands, Creve Coeur Creek and Creve Coeur Lake. St. Louis County says it will try to minimize impact to these resources and "Some impacts may require mitigation such as construction of new wetlands near the project area to replace those that are impacted by the project."
That just doesn't gibe with DNR's statement: "Construction of a four-lane highway down the center line of Creve Coeur Creek and its riparian zones could have devastating impacts to the creek's beneficial uses."
Devastating, yet insignificant?!
Tax payers, do you also find paying back the $130 million cost of these projects to be insignificant?
Showing posts with label Stimulus funds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stimulus funds. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
MoDot intends to extend highway 141 from Ladue road to the Page extension in west St. Louis county. The purpose of this extension is to encourage commercial development of land owned by the cities of Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur, and Chesterfield. MoDot's motivation for expansion is jobs for their people and increased tax revenue for the cities. The city's hope is that nonexistent businesses will want to locate in a flood plain in the very part of the country with the highest rate of economic decline.
Their traffic model constraints, variables, and assumptions are a joke.
Some development of highway 141 may be needed to alleviate traffic congestion, but MoDot has produced a massive, wasteful plan for highway expansion that will misuse 65 million dollars of taxpayer money.
There is a glut of available commercial real estate and high unemployment in St Louis.
Job losses in the automotive and aerospace industries have had a substantial and long lasting affect on the St. Louis economy. Those jobs are gone. They aren't coming back. There are no industries with the potential to replace those lost jobs in the near term.
St. Louisans are furious that money is being spent to create a massive west county outer loop that will do no more than destroy what little remains of the wetland and wildlife corridors in the area.
Why can't a more reasonable highway extension be built with less cost incurred? Why can't some of this money be put to good use creating jobs for the region? Many people in the area realize St. Louis is a great rear view mirror city. They are leaving for Texas, the east coast, even overseas. Work has already begun on this massive waste of taxpayer funds. St. Louisans watched half of the city of Bridgeton get wiped off the map to add a runway to Lambert airport when a runway was not needed. When will we ever learn?
Their traffic model constraints, variables, and assumptions are a joke.
Some development of highway 141 may be needed to alleviate traffic congestion, but MoDot has produced a massive, wasteful plan for highway expansion that will misuse 65 million dollars of taxpayer money.
There is a glut of available commercial real estate and high unemployment in St Louis.
Job losses in the automotive and aerospace industries have had a substantial and long lasting affect on the St. Louis economy. Those jobs are gone. They aren't coming back. There are no industries with the potential to replace those lost jobs in the near term.
St. Louisans are furious that money is being spent to create a massive west county outer loop that will do no more than destroy what little remains of the wetland and wildlife corridors in the area.
Why can't a more reasonable highway extension be built with less cost incurred? Why can't some of this money be put to good use creating jobs for the region? Many people in the area realize St. Louis is a great rear view mirror city. They are leaving for Texas, the east coast, even overseas. Work has already begun on this massive waste of taxpayer funds. St. Louisans watched half of the city of Bridgeton get wiped off the map to add a runway to Lambert airport when a runway was not needed. When will we ever learn?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)