In today’s punch-right-between-the-eyes example of why Saint Louis County has too many municipalities, the Village of Westwood wants to contribute to the greater good by closing access to a major alternate route during I-64/40 reconstruction. Westwood, with a population of 284, and previously known mostly for its country club, and for being the home of the player who hit the most home runs in the old Busch Stadium, does not want traffic coming down Conway Road instead of I-64.
St. Louis County has said it will consider taking over Conway within Westwood if Westwood moves forward with this. That is a surprisingly easy thing for the county to do, and although Westwood has threatened to sue if that happens, I doubt that threat puts much fear into St. Louis County. Previously, St. Louis County has reached agreements with other municipalities to make the necessary road improvements during I-64 reconstruction. I particularly liked getting rid of that stupid stop sign on eastbound Clayton Road at McCutcheon. Hopefully, good sense will prevail in Westwood and they will be a better neighbor. But, if not, I hope St. Louis moves ahead with a takeover of the road for the length of the project.
The idea that a tiny village could put a log-jam like this into such an important project is just insane. Everybody is going to have to make sacrifices during this project, and everybody includes Westwood.
