Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Image: NextSTL
Without a solid plan for the future from city officials, Alex Ihnen writes, the Missouri DOT has been given free rein to gouge highways through St. Louis. Image: NextSTL
false

If there's one place that should have internalized the lesson that more highways harm cities, it's St. Louis.

Despite having the second-most highway lane miles per person of any city in America, St. Louis has been declining for decades. Alex Ihnen at NextSTL points out that both population and driving are declining in the region. Metro St. Louisans are driving fewer miles today than they have since the mid-1990s.

But do you think the highway builders at the Missouri Department of Transportation are calling for a change of course? LOL! Ihnen writes that the state DOT only sees urban population loss, sprawl, and decline as added reasons to spend even more on highways:

It’s simply stunning to consider the ahistoric leaps in logic. Your city’s gaining population? Build more roads. People are driving more? Build more roads. Your city is losing population? Build more roads. And this in a city with 25 percent of its population without access to a car, and nearly 30 percent of its residents living in poverty (defined as annual income of less than $23,850 for a family of four). The average annual cost of owning a car? More than $7,000.

And yet we build. The $700M Stan Musial Bridge just opened to carry I-70 across the Mississippi River, meant to relieve traffic congestion on the Poplar Street Bridge, which continues to carry I-55 and I-64. MoDOT says that’s just a piece of the larger pie. About $27M is going into reversing ramps, putting a one-block lid over I-70 and removing downtown streets as part of the CityArchRiver project. Another $100M plus project will reconfigure I-55 and I-70 ramps to I-64 in downtown, add a traffic lane to eastbound I-64 and slide the Poplar Street Bridge over to a add a fifth eastbound lane across the river.

When a city defers its self-identity to highway building, you get highways. At some point, residents of the city must understand and speak to their own interests. This type of destructive and wasteful development isn’t any city’s fate, it’s a choice. And if a choice isn’t made, a vision not articulated and fought for? Well, the highway department gets to plan your city.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Systemic Failure marvels at a Seattle television news station's epic Bike-to-Work Day blunder. Bike Portland says there's a reason rents are high in central Portland -- hardly any of the area is zoned to allow multi-family housing. And Walkable Dallas Fort Worth says Texas officials are still convinced building highways will lead to economic growth.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Shutdown Showdown: Trump Blames Democrats for Transit Cuts In His Continuing War on Cities, ‘Woke’

It's the second time in as many days that the Trump administration has denied funding over policies it opposes.

October 1, 2025

Marcus Molinaro Is Wrong About Chicago Transit

Local transit advocates have diverse opinions on the best ways to improve transit safety. But there's one thing most of us can agree on. Donald Trump parachuting in soldiers, in an attempt to bully Chicago into submission, is not the answer.

October 1, 2025

Advocates In America’s Deadliest Car Crash City Are Forming a Powerful Coalition

A group of Memphis advocates are uniting to challenge car dependency and unravel its devastating impacts on residents

October 1, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines Will Tax Your Patience

RIP electric vehicle tax credits, the Trump administration's latest assault on transit, and more.

October 1, 2025

BIG ZERO: Trump Stiffs NYC Transit System in ‘Sanctuary City’ Tantrum

The federal government is denying the MTA tens of millions of dollars in public safety funding over of New York's immigration policies.

September 30, 2025

More Transit Means Safer Streets

Promoting transit isn't just a social good. It's also a tool to achieve Vision Zero.

September 30, 2025
See all posts