http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/ (http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/)
Summary of the five finalists as related to transportation infrastructure from looking through the smaller board files (just starting on the large narrative pdf files)
Behnisch Team
- Acknowledges removal of I-70 ramps to/from PSB
- Memorial Drive shifted to west side of I-70, Poplar to Walnut, Pine to Washington
- I-70 Cap, Walnut to Pine
- New Poplar Street (the surface street) bridge over I-70
- New ped bridges at Spruce, Clark, Olive, and Locust Streets
- Clark Avenue walkway between 4th and Memorial requires demolishing part of the Millennium Hotel
- Removes Option to remove I-70 later on, replaces highway with north-south Metrolink line (currently planned as street running on and around 14th Street)
- No relocated IL 3, unless it is on the Illinois side map (Page 4/8) The 100+ MB pdf narrative does acknowledge the relocated IL 3 on the right side of Page 57/147
MVVA Team
- Acknowledges relocated IL 3 (Page 2/8)
- Appears to Simplify the Washington/Memorial/Eads Bridge disaster to a better four point intersection
- Removal of Lenoir K. Sullivan Drive (the street along the river on the Missouri side)
- I-70 Cap around Market and Chestnut Streets (cap extends slightly beyond the current overpasses
- Memorial Drive is shifted to overhang I-70 more.
PWP Team
- Apparently no relocated IL 3
- Converts Walnut Street to two way west of Memorial Drive
- Memorial Drive beocomes a two lane street north of Walnut using the current SB lanes, and closed completely north of Pine Stree
- I-70 cap between Market and Chestnut Streets
- New half diamond interchange on the south side of Washington Street/Eads Bridge
- Memorial/Eads Bridge/Washington five point is fixed with the removal of Memorial for the new highway ramps and closure of Washington Street east of I-70
- Realigns Convention Plaza into a two-way street under I-70
- Removes current I-70 access to/from the MLK Bridge, but leaves the current WB entrance for NB 4th Street traffic.
- New ramps and one-way pair from I-55 near current 7th Street interchange feeding into downtown
- Possibly the best plan for traffic operations
Som Team
- Acknowledges future removal of I-70 ramps to/from PSB
- Acknowledges relocated IL 3, but desires more access and a slight alignment shift (narrative, Page 298/337)
- Adds I-70 ped tunnel bridge between
- Apparently narrows streets west of I-70, but is vague here
- Reopens upper deck of MacArthur Bridge for pedestrians, with new East St. Louis approach
- Expands sidewalk on south side of Eads Bridge
WM Team
- Removes I-70 after 2015 (Page 1/8, lower right corner)
- Cap over I-70 between Market and Chestnut, with closure of Memorial Drive between these two streets (narrative, Page 100/147)
- Acknowledges future removal of I-70 ramps to/from PSB
- Traffic calming on Memorial Drive?
- No relocated IL 3?
- Expanded Eads Bridge sidewalk, but narrows the bridge to two lanes from four (Page 70/147 of narrative)
- New bent arch ped walkway attachment on the north side of the PSB
- Adds bridges over L. K. Sullivan Drive
EDIT 2:
And there's already a Post-Dispatch editorial whose writer obviously never uses the depressed section to access I-70 from I-55:
http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/building-blocks/article_dda549ac-aa4b-11df-830c-0017a4a78c22.html (http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/building-blocks/article_dda549ac-aa4b-11df-830c-0017a4a78c22.html)
Revised plan closes Memorial Drive between Walnut and Pine Streets:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_acfdcd8e-29a7-11e0-8712-0017a4a78c22.html (http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_acfdcd8e-29a7-11e0-8712-0017a4a78c22.html)
Sure, let's make it harder to access alternatives to the PSB. The closure will probably also do wonders for ballgame traffic (which already seems to back up onto the PSB.
EDIT: New plan does have getting near-direct interstate access to the Eads Bridge going for it though, and possibly better access to the MLK from the south:
http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MVV_Public_Presentation_1_26_11.pdf (http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MVV_Public_Presentation_1_26_11.pdf) (Page 6/36)
EDIT 2:
* (Page 23/36 and Page 24/36) Not sure making the Eads Bridge two plus a center reversible lane in order expand the sidewalk on the south side is the best idea - sure the bridge is underutilized now, but better interstate access could easily throw current volume estimates out the window.
* (Page 24/36) Doesn't look like the MLK would be accessible from the new WB I-70 exit without cutting west from what I can see. Given that the Great Lemon Bridge should be open, they ought to go ahead and take a greater look at possibly redoing the western edge. Probably should also look at a connection between Convention Plaza and SB Memorial.
* (Page 27/36 and Page 34/36) Looks like relocated IL 3 will get some decent length viaducts.