St. Louis Alderman: Better Quality of Life Without the 'South County Connector'

The South County Connector is a proposed four-lane divided road that would run from Maplewood, through Shrewsbury, to the River Des Peres Boulevard near Watson Road.

Scott Ogilvie is alderman of the 24th Ward in the City of St. Louis. The ward includes the Dogtown, Clifton Heights, and Ellendale neighborhoods, and borders Richmond Heights and Maplewood. 

Ogilvie has shared his opinion on the South County Connector with this article. 

In 2011, St. Louis County (Charlie Dooley and the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic) started planning and advocating for a major roadway project they dubbed the “South County Connector.” Its an interesting name, since it would actually be in St. Louis City, Shrewsbury, and Maplewood, places no one considers “South County”. Fast forward two years to today, and the project proposal is back in the news. Why?

In May, St. Louis County released something called a “Draft Environmental Impact Statement”. The DEIS is a step in a process to secure federal funding to build the roadway. The cost of the “SCC” is estimated at about $110 million, (although that may be low) and the Federal Highway Administration would cover 80% of the cost, leaving St. Louis County to foot about $22 million of the bill to acquire and clear the right of way and construct the roadway. Most of the time, the “Environmental Impact Statement” is eventually accepted, and a few years down the line, the road or highway is built.

Right now, we’re in the federally mandated comment period for the DEIS. You can comment on the project until July 19th through www.southcountyconnector.com. But enough about process. The big questions are, “Is this road a good idea? Is this new road necessary?”

The DEIS is more than 700 pages long. I read every page, and I can summarize the details for you. According to St. Louis County, the project will increase traffic noise, reduce park space, damage the Deer Creek and River Des Peres Greenway Trails, displace businesses and residents, damage Deer Creek itself, reduce local tax revenue, especially for the MRH school district, and create a new, partially elevated barrier through St. Louis, Shrewsbury, and Maplewood. Nowhere in the DEIS does St. Louis County argue that the project improves quality of life for anyone. That is where we should put our collective feet down and say, “We’re better off without this.”

The St. Louis region has not ignored the transportation needs of people in and around this corridor. Indeed, just the opposite has occurred. Over $700 million in local tax dollars have been spent in the last decade to bring MetroLink and quality bike trails to the area. Simultaneously, miles travelled by car in the St. Louis region have decreased.

A close reading of the DEIS argues against building the road. The DEIS documents slowly declining population in the area, and admits the project will just move the rush hour bottle neck a mile up the road to Hanley Rd. Is that a smart investment of $110 million?

St. Louis County is engaged in the type of planning that dominated the 1950’s through the 1970’s, where “road capacity” was the only measure that counted. That planning damaged and even destroyed communities throughout our region.  It’s the type of planning that promises a modestly reduced travel time past an area at the expense of residents already living there. The assumption is that people need to “get past” rather than to “be in” the place where the road is built.

Its tempting to get bogged down in the details. But we should step back and look at the big picture. What do we expect of local government? Clearly, we need roads. But we also need local representation to realize that people, and communities, are more important than maximizing road capacity. Building and protecting places where people want to live is a more important goal than maximizing travel speed through an area. In this case, those goals are incompatible. 

The St. Louis region already has one of the most extensive road and highway networks per person in the nation. We’ve already built the roads we need. Lets maintain what we have, but there is no compelling reason to bisect and damage mature communities with another limited access, “cars only” road.

Are Shrewsbury, Maplewood, and Southwest St. Louis just places to drive through on the way to Clayton or River City Casino? I don’t think so. I think we live in places people want to be, not quickly drive past. Tell your elected representatives that its long past time that road capacity took a back seat to quality of life investments.