Whose road is being traveled?

State and Local Government |
By David Stokes | Read Time 2 minutes

St. Louis County has used a carrot and stick approach to dealing with local municipalities regarding the necessary traffic changes during the upcoming Highway 40 reconstruction projest.  Apparently, the carrot has been successful.  Agreements have been reached with Ladue, Frontenac and Town and Country for the County to take over Clayton and Ladue Roads during the project for the purpose of speeding up traffis so they may be better used by commuters.  Of course, the fact that St. Louis County has the legal right to take over all the roads at any point, and was willing to do just that, made the carrot much more appealing to the cities.  Basically, we are now going to have traffic lights at some well-known intersections which before had "Stop" signs intentionally placed to prevent heavy commuter traffic.  These intersections, off the top of my head, will include Price and Clayton, Price and Ladue, McKnight and Litzsinger, Clayton and Lay, and Warson and Ladue.  I don’t mind that the "Stop" signs are there to prevent heavy traffic before, and I have no problem with their return after construction, but I commend St. Louis County for making certain these imperative changes will go ahead quickly. 

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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