Living in the City of St. Louis and driving its streets, I’ve noticed there are intersections that just don’t make sense. Mostly, the parts that don’t make sense are the intersections that have very shallow turns where two or three streets come together. To me, the person that designed those intersections clearly did not have the automobile in mind.
Then I Google-d “St. Louis streetcar map”, or something to that effect, and on Ebay I actually found the ONLY 1906 Streetcar Map of St. Louis left in the world(!), for $18.99, plus shipping. Well, I embellished a little, it was the only 1906 Streetcar Map of St. Louis for a few days, until New World Maps, Inc. of Lake Worth, Florida, posted the exact same map for sale the very next week. I took a picture of the map, above. All of the gray lines you see? Those are not roads, those are tracks.
To help prove my point, I pulled my helicopter out of the hangar and took a picture of the intersection that shows the alignment of our streets were meant for streetcars, and not automobiles. Then I tried to zoom in on the 1906 map to compare the same intersection. Because I don’t have a super-zoom expensive camera, we’re going to have to make due with the camera on my phone. And, because of that, I was only able to capture the blurry-ish image below.
In the aerial picture above, I have labeled the Moolah Theatre and Lindell Boulevard. The street that juts off between the Moolah and Lindell is McPherson Avenue. In the 1906 map I placed a red oval over the same spot as in the satellite image in the aerial picture. You will notice in the red oval on the 1906 map, a rail line comes in the right side of the oval, which is also Lindell Boulevard, and continues up McPherson Avenue, to northwest St. Louis City.
Great alignment for a streetcar, and makes for weird driving in a car.
I think what makes your proposal so interesting is that this used to exist in St. Louis. It's hard to say that something that used to be done 50-70 years ago can't be done today!! That map is actually really cool to look at because it really brings the possibility to life. Also in reference to your bi-state post, I think we get really caught up in the fact that the City of St. Louis is not in St. Louis County and that's a huge disadvantage etc. etc. BUT why is it an advantage?? There HAS to be some pros associated with the current arrangement that can help bring the street car back to the City. Ya know???
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interest!
ReplyDeleteMy premise is that the City of St. Louis is unique because the basic infrastructure for bringing back the streetcar already exists: grid-patterned streets, street-width, rails, maybe even utility alignment. I was in the Central West End when the City was replacing the cobblestones, and not more than a foot underneath the street were rails. It was fascinating.
I believe one of the pros is that a modern streetcar can appeal, politically, as traditional and modern, in that, what's more traditional and modern than an electrically powered streetcar?!