During the discussion of walkability in Maplewood, a 40 South News reader on Tuesday sent photos to 40 South of two situations she said can cause problems to someone with a handicap.
40 South emailed the photos to Maplewood Public Works Director Anthony Traxler to let him comment before being published, but the reader has mentioned the situations, so the photos are being published. Traxler is out of town until next week, according to an automatic reply to the email.
Reader, Rose Bingham, sent 40 South a photo of what she calls a “handicap curb cut to nowhere.” It’s at the corner of Lohmeyer and Bredell avenues.
“It does no good to have a curb cut leading to steps,” Bingham said in her email.
“Equally ridiculous is the other end of the sidewalk,” she said. “You don’t realize that you can’t get off the sidewalk until the end.” (I may be misunderstanding here, but there is a curb cut at the top of the sidewalk now.)
She also sent a picture to illustrate “multiple areas on the sidewalks — big drops that force one to drive in the street. The city could do a much better job in assessing the needs of all of their citizens,” Bingham said.
The concrete contractor that handled that corner was the same one that handled our street. They did a horrible job wrapping up the project and wasted many workable days where nobody showed up to work. It was frustrating as many of us went without driveways or street parking for months last summer. I had a lot of correspondence with Mr. Traxler at that time and found him to be highly responsive and as helpful as possible despite the bad situation. Hopefully there is some recourse with that contractor for the city of maplewood to have this corner done properly.
It’s been my experience that Mr. Traxler is highly responsive to citizens’ concerns. I’ve dealt with his office a few times, and when you present a compelling case of a real problem that is within his power to fix, he will do as much as he can. The fact is that Public Works is currently making up for years of neglect at the hand of previous administrations, and there is more work to be done than there is funding and production capacity. That said, I hope that Mr. Traxler can help out with this question, because it looks like a do-over may be needed.
He is very responsive. I’ve sent emails with problems twice and they have responded. I think the idea of a walkibility study made me want to comment on the many issues with the sidewalks.
I have had great luck with the public works department in Maplewood. Our sidewalks in the front of our house were very uneven. I contacted the public works department, and they totally redid the sidewalks in front of our house for free. If you see any sidewalks that are in need of repair, I would suggest to contact the public works department (314-645-3600 is the main city of Maplewood number).
It is my understanding that about a year ago, a group of people who have disabilities tried to bring city management’s attention to a number of sidewalk issues like this. At the time, it didn’t seem like anything was being addressed. I’d be interested in knowing what actually has to happen (notification process,budget, etc) to get things like this fixed.
Also, if anyone is interested in joining a group that advocates to make MRH great for people of all abilities, one is forming https://www.facebook.com/MRHAdvocacyCircle/.
Everyone can accommodate for everyone else except the handicapped?? What a shame that is. And who is the guy that thinks it’s okay for someone in a wheelchair to have to make a million crossings to get to one destination…. The city needs to do something about those side walks. That’s my best friends mom who took those pictures; and how unfair that she can’t get out and go Bc of the condition of the sidewalks and not enough curb cuts. #alllivesmatter #fixyourstreetsforyourpeople
I wondered about that mess as it was being done. I didn’t think it was federally approved handicap accessible. It looks like a huge ‘oops’ afterthought.
I should point out that Lohmeyer isn’t completely inaccessible. If you turn left at the intersection in the photo and cross the street, there is a curb cut in the sidewalk on the north side of Lohmeyer and you could go up the hill on that side. At the top of the hill, there are driveways and a curb cut at Oakland you can use to cross back to the south side. The new curb cuts by the pool parking lot drive and the Library lot are all usable.
I didn’t write this. Someone must be using my name.
Terry – Judging by email addresses, which I can see from my end, there are multiple Terry Donnellys in Maplewood, and at least one appears to be the director of the Maplewood public library. Looks like you’re either the second or third Terry Donnelly to comment.
Exactly-you have to cross the street. And at the pool lot, you can get on the new sidewalk but not off at the end. And if you continue west in front of the library, there isn’t a way down when you reach the school’s lot. I almost tipped my chair over going off the curb.
Lol im sorry, but this is pretty ridiculous! That’s EXACTLY why I’m home alot!
The blog UrbanReview St. Louis often details similar pedestrian issues in the City of St. Louis. It is truly shocking how many cases exist where planners simply don’t take into account pedestrians or wheelchairs, and this example is no different. Somebody royally fouled up that brand new section of Lohmeyer, that’s for sure!
Thanks for mentioning my blog, been planning yo check out this new development.
Those steps by the library seem pretty ridiculous to me.
Thank you for sharing this. I love Maplewood but I am very surprised at the condition of our city sidewalks. I never noticed until the past year when my wife and I had a daughter … Pushing a stroller in this town is pretty bad. I can’t even imagine if I was in a wheelchair.
It’s been mentioned in the comments of some recent post (such as the M) … The City hasn’t done an assessment of roads in a few years. The next time they review the state of our roadways, they should include sidewalks. What would be the cost for that and is it even a possibility?
David,
Road assessment was done in 2014. But I would suspect it does not include sidewalks.
http://mo-maplewood.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/859
When our son was a baby we learned which corners had curb cuts and which ones did not. I appreciated the curb cuts.