Highway 141 choke points could be eased by spending plan

But when the new stretch of Highway 141 opened last summer between Highway 40 (Interstate 64) and Page Avenue (Highway 364) in Maryland Heights, it teased drivers with the prospect of an outer-belt highway stretching from Arnold to north St. Louis County.

The fact is that Highway 141 is still dotted with traffic signals and rush-hour traffic patterns befitting a bustling commuter route. But under a new five-year spending plan, the Missouri Department of Transportation is targeting some of those Highway 141 choke points.

The recently released $3.5 billion Statewide Transportation Improvement Program has money to make over the interchange at Interstate 44, double the capacity of the left-turn lanes for cars entering Highway 40, and to add MoDOT’s standard highway-traffic gadgetry to 141 north of Olive Boulevard.

When the latest four-mile section of Highway 141 opened last July — at a cost of about $149 million — it completed a 30-mile divided highway of four lanes, sometimes six. It was built mostly in a piecemeal fashion over nearly four decades.

Suburban growth has fueled traffic jams on Interstate 270 — which runs roughly parallel to Highway 141 — and has managed to tie traffic into knots on 141 itself. Projects listed on the state’s latest five-year spending plan target a couple of the most obvious sources of congestion.

Funding to build a flyover ramp from southbound Highway 141 to eastbound Interstate 44, and to beef up the interchange to better handle cars going from northbound 141 to westbound I-44, is a welcome investment, some say.

“It is a bottleneck there,” said Valley Park Mayor Mike Pennise. “Especially when it rains in the morning.”

Highway 141 is a primary access route to Valley Park and other St. Louis County towns. Pennise said the new stretch that opened last July was a dramatic improvement.

Commuter Eric Stephens, of Arnold, agrees there is still room for improvement on Highway 141. The self-employed handyman drives the route about twice a month, on average, and can usually count on backups once he reaches Valley Park. He attributes delays to all of the traffic signals.

The flyover ramp “will eliminate one thing that clogs up the traffic,” he said. “There are several that clog it up through that area.”

Farther north, MoDOT will add second left-turn lanes for Highway 141 travelers trying to enter Highway 40. Currently, there are only single left-turn lanes. MoDOT also will add an extra, auxiliary lane between Highway 40 and St. Luke’s Hospital.

Both of those projects were supposed to be part of the work completed last summer with the help of federal stimulus funds. But they were cut and had to wait until more money became available, said Tom Montesdeoca, project manager for the southwest St. Louis County area.

Another project will tie Highway 141 north of Olive Boulevard into the state’s “intelligent transportation” system. MoDOT took over that portion of highway after St. Louis County completed its share of the work between Page Avenue and Olive.

Features such as electronic message boards, traffic cameras and traffic sensors will be hooked up, thanks to $2.25 million in federal transportation dollars targeting traffic congestion relief and improved air quality.

Having the state monitor traffic flow on that highway will help to ease traffic congestion in the corridor, said Lee Hillner, a MoDOT project manager for intelligent transportation systems. That’s because the system relays valuable information to drivers and helps first responders get to traffic incidents faster.

Don Mueller, a network engineer who lives in Creve Coeur, has commuted on Highway 141 for the past 10 years and said the latest expansion project “absolutely made that better.”

But Mueller noticed during his daily commute to Town and Country that more drivers have flocked to the highway, and that has fueled backups between St. Luke’s and Highway 40. As a result, other drivers turn right at Brooking Park Drive and then turn left on South Woods Mill to avoid the traffic knot.

Mueller said adding the left-turn lanes from Highway 141 to Highway 40 should help relieve backups.

The five-year spending plan has numerous projects — large and small — throughout the state. Because of the shrinking availability of transportation dollars, highway planners say they will have less to spend in the next five years than in recent times.

Much of the emphasis, therefore, will be on maintaining roads and bridges.

“The funding that we have for the program that you see is a little over half of what it has been in the past,” said Machelle Watkins, MoDOT’s transportation planning director in Jefferson City. “As a result, the type of work that you see is different. There is a lot less of the more exciting expansion, economic development type of projects.”

MoDOT is accepting public comments through the end of the month on the spending plan, which covers $700 million per year in highway and bridge projects. Those interested in reviewing the program can find it at MoDOT’s website, www.modot.org, or at any MoDOT district or regional office.