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Traffic-and-growth woes continue

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It didn't take much courage for me to make the prediction. It was such a no-brainer that it would be tacky of me to say I told you so. Ah, what the heck: I told you so!

In January the Rusty Saber predicted that growth and the accompanying traffic woes would combine to be the biggest issue facing the Springfield area in 1999.

I predicted that growth-created traffic woes would cause even more homeowners to vigorously protest new developments that would increase traffic flow and urban blight in and around their neighborhoods. It doesn't take a Mensa recruit to see that this prediction was on target.

Two recent examples of growth fallout:

1. Residents of south Greene County turned out in droves at Kickapoo High School to protest the River Bluff Parkway (see SBJ, July 5-11, 1999), and

2. State Farm Insurance Co. named four Springfield intersections among the 10 most dangerous in the state, including the most dangerous, Glenstone Avenue and Sunshine Street. Neither event should surprise anyone who has been out and about in Springfield.

The River Bluff Parkway flap resulted not from a concrete proposal but only a report from a consultant who studied the presumed need for a four-lane, eight-mile road between U.S. 65 and Greene County FF. (It says at the bottom of this column that I'm a "consultant," proving that anybody can be one. A consultant defined: A stranger with a briefcase.)

I think it's accurate to say that these homeowners told the consultant, and the Springfield and Greene County officials on hand, what they could do with the new road that is proposed to run through their neighborhood. This is where the rubber meets the road, folks.

Outward growth from center city begets new commercial establishments which beget more traffic, which begets traffic flowing through neighborhoods. Herein lies the formula for urban blight

So, on one hand there is a need for a new four-lane highway, and on the other hand homeowners are willing to fight to preserve their neighborhoods from high-density traffic and urban blight.

Given the intensity of the folks who showed up just to hear a report from a consultant, imagine the response if the road was an actual proposal and tax dollars were on hand to pay for it. I think we might be talking a Boston Tea Party type revolt.

This is only one of many instances where property owners have joined together to fight to preserve neighborhoods. Homeowners near Republic Road and James River Freeway recently went to the mat with Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, over a proposed shopping center in an area already heavily traveled.

The final outcome is still in doubt. Twice people living near U.S. 65 and Battlefield Road have gone toe-to-toe with Wal-Mart over a proposed supercenter. Likewise, neighbors near Blackman Road and East Sunshine went ballistic when Wal-Mart proposed locating the supercenter there, so near to the already hopelessly congested nightmare at U.S. 65 and Sunshine.

Citizens have protested the placement of a homeless shelter near their homes, the same for a proposed halfway house. It doesn't take much imagination to predict more homeowner revolts against business and government projects they perceive will disrupt neighborhood tranquility.

No Springfield driver should be surprised that four of the 10 most dangerous intersections in Missouri are here. Five of the worst are in St. Louis, the other is in Kansas City.

As I understand it, State Farm didn't use actual accident statistics in picking the worst intersections[[In-content Ad]]

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