Gateway Connector Lacks Funding - Nicholas J.C. Pistor (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 8)
Apparently, the State of Illinois lacks funding for a $500 million east side highway that would connect Troy and Columbia. Plans aren't dead, though -- and that's a bad thing for the character of the small towns in Illinois that it would "connect."
Proponents of the connector call it a boon to the growing cities of the metro east. Careful scrutiny might show that the cities are losing investment and residents in their core areas while using annexation of placeless sprawl to offset the losses. The road would reward and subsidize an a trend that is slowly killing the small urban areas of the metro east.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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3 comments:
Here is a link to the path they want to take.
Didn't you know that capital projects like highways stimulate economic development? This allows communities to attract residents from other areas and capture money through sales tax. Just put a home depot right off the highway, maybe even bordering another community. People come from all regions for those cheap goods and the councilpersons (snapping their fingers) get get get that green. Oh, its a great way to do development. Great for the region and great for you and me!
Land around the existing east side connector I-255 is underutilized. Why not create an incentive to develop that land, closer to St. Louis, before building a highway that connects random pockets of already-thriving exurban development?
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