Cyclists want Gravois fix after recent deaths—but state route status makes things tricky

Cyclists are calling for safer biking and walking conditions on Gravois Avenue in St. Louis, which has seen two traffic-related deaths in the past two months. But even though they have the ear of the mayor, the path forward may be longer than they’d like.

On April 1, a 27-year-old cyclist was struck and killed while riding in the bike lane in an alleged hit and run near Gravois’ intersection with Bamberger. Then, just last week, a pedestrian was killed after being struck by a car just one block away, at Gravois and Spring.

“We know how to solve this problem,” says Matt Wyczalkowski with the St. Louis Coalition to Protect Cyclists and Pedestrians. He points to the fact that utility construction in the center of Gravois narrowed the road and created a de facto median for several months. “Suddenly, crossing became easier and safer, even as traffic flowed smoothly and car speeds stayed calm. Why can’t it always be like that?”

Last Friday, hours before a tornado ripped through St. Louis, Wyczalkowski and dozens of other cyclists rode to City Hall as part of their regular bike bus. They delivered to the mayor a message about needed improvements on Gravois. Wyczalkowski and others read statements on the steps of City Hall, a building inside of which they would seem to have an ally.

Mayor Cara Spencer, an avid cyclist herself, joined the group for the last leg of their ride on her 15-year-old Surly and flat-resistant tires—a bicycle she acknowledged was a little bit grungy but meant to be put through its paces. As for Gravois, she said making it safe is important to her as her own son crosses the street, either on bike or foot, every day.

But despite the mayor’s allied intentions, even without the more urgent priorities catalyzed by the tornado’s broad swath of damage, a road like Gravois presents something of a conundrum.

“There’s a little bit of complication there, but we’re going to see what we can do,” Spencer said after Friday’s ride in a short huddle with media outlets 

She was referring to the street being a state route, meaning that the Missouri Department of Transportation maintains the thoroughfare “curb to curb,” including signing, striping, signals, sweeping and maintaining the surface.

The city is responsible for sidewalks. City officials believe the city can also do whatever construction it deems appropriate on the street, which, after all, the city owns. (Asked directly if that assertion is true, MoDOT did not directly answer.)

In theory, a street with two entities serving as caretaker should be exceptionally well maintained. But in practice, it isn’t always that easy.

Hear more from Ryan Krull about cyclist safety on The 314 Podcast

Liz Kramer previously chaired St. Louis’ Community Mobility Committee, a group created to advise city government on transportation issues. She was also on the Friday morning ride, and explained to SLM that MoDOT tends to operate via longer-term plans when it comes to upgrading streets. City residents upset about pedestrian deaths like the two recent ones on Gravois want something done now, but that’s generally not how MoDOT operates.

Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer is known for being hyperfocused on quality infrastructure. Asked if MoDOT’s involvement makes it harder to install bike and pedestrian infrastructure on streets, she says, “Really good question. It is a combination of yes and no.”

She says that MoDOT’s five-year planning cycle makes it easy to know when a route will get work. She says that Gravois is scheduled for five years from now, which is good because it needs the work— and “bad, because that’s a long time from now.”

“In two years, they’ll have an open house that talks about what Gravois will be. Then, in three years, we’ll see the actual plan.” In the meantime, the city isn’t exactly incentivized to spend its limited resources on improvements that MoDOT is going to pay for down the line.

For a good example of how traffic calming on state routes can be tricky, Kramer suggested looking at the bump-outs, crosswalk and lighting recently installed on Chippewa (another state route) in front of Ted Drewes—an area that has been a subject of deep concern since two high-profile fatalities in 2022.

Kramer says it’s her understanding that in response to requests for those traffic-calming measures, MoDOT responded by saying that it was not on their time scale and they don’t do “quick build.”

“The result was it took a really long time, and more people got hit by cars, because there wasn’t alignment between what the expectations were for MoDOT and what the city wanted to have happen,” says Kramer.

MoDOT spokesman Andrew Gates confirms the five-year planning process. He adds, “We collaborate with the city to ensure they have the opportunity to comment on, or suggest changes to, any plans that we would incorporate on the route.”

Alderman Tom Oldenburg, in whose ward Ted Drewes resides, doesn’t have anything bad to say about MoDOT, per se, but notes that when it came to those improvements, MODOT “kicked in no shekels, other than they were cooperative on the review and consent process for what we wanted to do.” Instead, funding came from his ward capital, additional capital from Ward 4, and ARPA dollars.

Oldenburg says a traffic-calming project along a state route like Chippewa generally “takes a little longer, because all of it requires MoDOT’s review and consent.”

For cyclists, that isn’t fast enough. After the two recent deaths on Gravois, spray-painted plaques have appeared on the side of the road showing a car striking a pedestrian, along with the words, “Where is MoDOT?”

Kramer says that, as with Spencer, making Gravois safer for pedestrians and cyclists is personal. She lives two blocks away from the street, crosses it all the time. She says that MoDOT did some improvements right at the intersection at Utah. “But the next half block in there is an unprotected city intersection. That intersection is still crazy dangerous,” she says. 

Both Schweitzer and the city’s program manager for Complete Streets Scott Ogilvie say that better coordination is coming.

“Historically it had been more challenging to work with MoDOT on some of this stuff, but it’s changed a lot in more recent years,” says Ogilvie. “So these days, it’s not such a big issue. We’ve worked hard to improve the relationship and they have also adapted a lot and we talk a lot more and more productively than we used to.”

Schweitzer says that recently MoDOT installed their first ever bump-outs on Gravois, near Holly Hills. And, later this year, MoDOT will be building a protected bike lane on Chouteau, the first they have constructed in the entire state. The city will be responsible for maintaining it.

On the steps of City Hall on Friday, Wyczalkowski of the St. Louis Coalition to Protect Cyclists and Pedestrians said that they would be holding elected officials’ feet to the fire when it comes to upgrades. “We will provide constructive feedback, support where possible, and criticism where necessary,” he said.

Cyclist Kevin Hahn-Petruso had made the Friday morning ride with his 18-month-old son, saying that he was motivated to join the bike bus because he saw it as a “small manifestation” of the notion that streets safe for walking and biking are essential to the city. 

Wyczalkowski added in a later text message on May 16 that he and others in his group are impressed by the mayor’s commitment to making streets safer for cycling and walking, as well as her willingness to engage with the cycling community.

He added: “In the end her administration will be judged by its actions, but I am hopeful and encouraged by what I’ve seen so far.”