Ken Kuhlenschmidt: Regarding the re-striping of Hwy 370 eastbound between 94 and Earth City ....yes, it was re-done last week, but now, when entering at 94 eastbound, the solid white line extends the entire length of the right, exit-at-Earth City lane. The previous broken white line is gone.
All 4 lanes are solid white-lined now, until past the Earth City exit.
What is the exact significance of a solid white line like that?

50SOUTHAMPTON: Thanks for your quick response to downtown concerns last week. More this week.

Southbound on Tenth on the south side of the Chestnut intersection is a depression in the asphalt that is getting worse. It is right next to some concrete covering a trench that was put there some time ago. Also, in the south curb of Chestnut between Seventh and Eighth is a completed utility project (they put the concrete in) that needs asphalt to bring the level up to the rest of the roadway. No name on the manhole cover that the concrete leads to.

Catherine: A couple weeks back, I submitted two questions about the redesign of the Union/Lindell Intersection. (Both re: Westbound Lindell: 1. though the far right lane is right-turn-only, a lot of drivers go straight; 2. it’s difficult for drivers to turn left into Forest Park and/or onto the Parkway.) I understand the response -- the cut-through was closed after several cars ran down pedestrians and bike riders –- and I appreciated the offer to look into solutions. I also understand that it’s not an ordinary, four-way intersection; the off-ramp from the Parkway complicates things.

So, I would like to make what I think is a relatively simple, and rather practical, suggestion for the right-lane-is-right-turn-only problem: For Westbound Lindell drivers, the striped white line between the left and middle lanes is continued through the intersection; I assume this was done because those lanes both have to veer north. It seems to be working quite well, so perhaps it would help if the white line between the middle and right-hand lanes could also be extended through the intersection. I think that would make it much more obvious that it is a right-turn-only lane.

I would also like to suggest that the solid white striping along the curb, to the right of the right-hand lane, be altered. Presently, it continues in a straight line, until it ends at the crosswalk, while the curb curves well away, and I think this helps lead drivers to think that the lane continues going straight.

Since my previous post, I’ve twice come within inches of having my car crushed between the left-lane driver and some fool in the right-turn-only lane -- and I’ve watched the same almost-accident occur to several other drivers. It’s really quite bad, so much so that it's hard to believe there haven’t been more accidents at that intersection. I hope something can be done about it soon.

Juan: There is a very dangerous situation at Oregon and Cherokee that needs to be resolved. For some reason, the stop sign for southbound Oregon has a “4 way stop” sign under the octagonal sign. The only problem is that intersection is not a 4 way stop! I don’t know if someone put it there as a prank, or it’s leftover from when there was a 4 way stop there, but it could cause an accident if someone at that stop sign assumed traffic on Cherokee was going to stop for them. Thanks.

Catherine: I have a question about Northbound Memorial Drive.

At Pine and Market (I think it’s Market) streets, there are two left-turn lanes; both are left-turn-only-on-left-arrow, and both have one left-turn-only lane, as well as one left-or-straight lane. I have two questions about this set-up:

1. What is the point of a left-or-straight lane with a left-turn-only-on-left-arrow light? The obvious result is that one turning driver will block the through drivers until the turn arrow. If there has to be a left-turn-only-on-left-arrow light, for heaven’s sake, make it a left-turn-only lane! (This same mistake was made on Lindell when left-turn-arrow lights were first installed. After several months of frustration and unnecessarily blocked lanes, the lesson was finally learned and the problem corrected. Surely, this same lesson can be re-applied to Memorial.)

2. I can’t figure out what purpose the left-turn-only-on-left-arrow lights are meant to serve at those intersections. Northbound Memorial is separated from Southbound Memorial by I-70, so Northbound drivers who want to turn left onto Pine or Market aren’t blocking Southbound drivers, and the pedestrian crosswalks are on the North side of both intersections. Basically, the left-turn-only-on-left-arrow lights just make Northbound drivers wait for absolutely no reason –- which is probably why so many drivers ignore them. If they serve no valid purpose (which they don’t seem to do), and most people don’t obey them, why have them, and why keep them? If, on the other hand, they do serve some valid (but ingeniously hidden) purpose, can that information not be shared somehow -- because that, at least, might encourage drivers to obey the lights?