rxp71105z14: The light at Hanley and Forsyth is timed way too much in favor of Hanley traffic. I called Clayton and they said that they do not control the timing of that light.

With Hanley closed, the traffic between Persing and Wydown is almost all local traffic. Anyone wanting to get on Fo. Park Parkway from No. of Forsyth or So. of Wydown will already have bailed off of Hanley.

What can be done? The Clayton police have confirmed that the traffic on Hanley through Clayton is way down, even beyond their expectations.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: This signal is controlled by the County. I did pass this concern on to them last week. They are focused on moving the traffic along Hanley which is why it gets more timing. You may want to contact County Highway directly with your concerns.

Linda Wilson

msstlcardsfan5: Is there anyway to help traffic merge better when exiting off NB170 on to Forest Park Parkway? It seems that traffic is very congested when entering on to NB170 from Eager Road. It sometimes is very hard to get over to the Forest Park Parkway Exit.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: I don't know that there is anything we can do. I actually drive through this every day coming from I-64 to northbound I-170. The most congested time is from about 7:45 to 8:30. Other times, the merge is not that bad. Some of the problem is just bad drivers who don't have common courtesy to realize people are trying to merge over. There is nothing we can do with signing or striping.

Another suggestion would be to not go this way. If you are coming from Eager, you could take Brentwood to get to downtown Clayton instead of getting on I-170 and then immediately getting back off at Forest Park Parkway.

Linda Wilson

Ryan: Thank you for your discussion every week (and for your responsiveness to people's concerns)... it makes life a little bit easier for those of us who deal with the closing every day.

My question concerns the collector/distributor roads at Brentwood/Hanley. If they are finished prior to December 31, will they open early (so that eastbound traffic can exit to Hanley and westbound traffic can enter from Hanley)? It seems like once Hanley has reopened, that might take some pressure off of Eager and Brentwood.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: You're welcome. Right now, the Hanley Road bridge is scheduled to reopen sometime in August. Usually we don't open individual sections of the highway early in order to avoid overloading the roads that would suddenly become the end of the freeway. The outer roads are a little different in that in this case they would merely connect Hanley and Brentwood Boulevard, not the mainline of the highway. So it's something we can consider.

Dan

Ron: Thank you very much for your weekly Q&A. You mentioned last week that the section between Rout K and 141 was back to 2007 volumes even though the new section is at 30 to 35 percent. When the current section is complete, isn't it likely to worsen around 141? And are their any plans for improvements? Back-ups past Clarkson in the mornings are becoming way too common. Thanks again.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: There are not any plans currently in the region's long-range transportation plan to do any changes to I-64 between I-270 and Clarkson Road. You are right that the backups in the morning are back to the way they used to be back to Clarkson and even down the hill into Chesterfield Valley some mornings.

Linda Wilson

Al: Does MoDOT go out of its way to cause traffic headaches? Why, why is MoDOT doing any kind of work related to 170? Closing lanes, anytime of the day, is a very dumb thing to do. If necessary why can't MoDOT work on 170 during the nights and/or weekends? People actually have to drive on 170 everyday, it is the ONLY major north/south route left. Get it together MoDOT !!

Why and how long, will this 170 work continue to occur?

By the way, no matter what MoDOT says about 170 northbound access from Eagar being 2 lanes, get real, it is only one lane by any count. Sure it starts off as 2 for about 20 yards, but quickly bottlenecks down to one to get on 170. Call it like it is MoDOT.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: On southbound I-170, the contractor has had a left lane closure for a few days as they install soundwalls along I-64 between the end of the I-170 ramp and McCutcheon. The work is from 5:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. MoDOT's engineers reviewed the current traffic volumes and the volumes are light enough during these hours to allow the one lane closure on the ramp from southbound I-170 to westbound I-64. During the evening rush, the volumes are heavier, so we do not allow Gateway to work at that time. The crews have a couple more days of work to complete the soundwall. Also, during the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the crews are using the left lane for their equipment and hauling trucks to access the eastbound ramp into the work zone. In both of these instances, it is not causing problems to traffic.

MoDOT worked with St. Louis County, who owns Hanley and Eager roads, on the detour plan to move traffic while Hanley is closed over I-64. The detour allows two lanes of Hanley to turn and become two lanes of Eager and then turn onto northbound I-170. This is a temporary condition. When the construction work is finished, there will be a right turn yield lane from Eager to access northbound I-170. The current double right turn lane allows traffic to flow more freely down Eager and not have to merge together until they have slowed around the turn. Traffic is then already moving more slowly from the turn and drivers can merge together. If the two lanes had to merge into one on Eager before the right turn, it could create backups as drivers are moving faster and not willing to let another driver merge over. The detour is flowing very well and we have no plans to change. It is two lanes on Eager and two lanes on the turn and a one lane ramp as you go onto I-170.

Linda Wilson