Long Range Transportation Plan Released for St. Louis Region

"[The] East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) issued its Connected2045 30-year transportation plan for the eight counties it oversees," reports Richard Bose.

Bose notes that the plan says all the right things from a contemporary planning point of view, but the ambitious agenda laid out by the plan includes contingencies of funding depending on the current levels of funding or the potential for additional sources of funding—and that's where "the rubber hits the road," as Bose puts it.

The article quotes extensively from the plan to exemplify its acknowledgement of current trends, like the desire of young professionals to have access to alternative transportation and the negative impacts of sprawl on infrastructure and land uses.

Bose does not claim that the plan is perfect, noting "some build, build, build insanity"—for example a proposed stroad in St. Charles County and more. In the end, Bose concludes that the plan misses the mark if the region intends to stay competitive with places like Salt Lake City over the course of the next 30 years.