The St. Louis County Council is set to vote on a bill at its March 29 meeting to add a right turn only lane on northbound Big Bend at Manchester Road, increasing it from five lanes to six, according to the agenda.
The bill was introduced by District 5 council member, Pat Dolan. His assistant Patrick Mulcahy said the bill is to be perfected (initial vote) at the March 29 meeting, with the final vote set for the next meeting, on April 5.
Dolan has not responded immediately to a request for comment. St. Louis County roads department communication director, David Wrone has replied and said he would have more information on Thursday.
Maplewood city staff has said the city was not aware of the project.
It would be great to have a pedestrian bridge over Big Bend at Manchester. …wondering if any cost studies have been done on this. Maybe the county could look at this as well.
Uh, No.
If anything, they need to make the right hand lane into a right turn only lane to the eastbound lane of Manchester at Big Bend. The two lanes merge abruptly after the intersection and causes some real backups.
The merge on eastbound manchester after the light is intentional, as well as the backup. It allows more cars to get through the traffic light and reduces the length of the middle lane, allowing more cars to be able to access the left turn lane from eastbound manchester onto northbound big bend.
Hypothetically it may be designed to work like that, but as Bryan mentions, the cars that are backed up sitting in the right lane don’t wait until the last car goes through the light from the center lane before merging over. Instead, they start to merge immediately which slows traffic from the center lane getting through the light so it doesn’t actually help. I have often thought they should get rid of it and make the right lane a right turn only.
Good idea Joe. The lane could even be taken out completely, the sidewalk widened, and a green buffer created (like the one the County wants to take out on the Big Bend side of the corner).
This is a terrible idea for Maplewood, leading to faster traffic thru an area frequently used by many pedestrians, including students. This moves us away from a more walkable and age friendly community. It’s happening in our community, why wasn’t the city aware of this?
I agree with your reason on why this is a bad idea. Maplewood city council has worked hard to make Maplewood more walkable, so I find it very frustrating to hear the county makes plans without telling the city it is working within. Certainly this is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed. Big Bend remains one of the greatest obstacles to Maplewood connecting the downtown to the Metro. If the county and Maplewood councils are not on the same page, then this will remain a problem.
So another lane of traffic for kids to try and cross through.