Counties Impacted
St. Louis City
Route Impacted
D
Work Type
Safety Improvements
Planning Phase

Project timeline

Complete
Road Safety Audit site visit

MoDOT and its partners walk along the corridor to assess and document any current traffic trends and roadway conditions.

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Complete
Community and Focus Group Meeting #1

MoDOT and its partners will meet with an invited group of individuals  (a focus group) to discuss the corridor and potential issues that they observe. In addition, the department gathered concerns from the public in a public meeting,. 

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Complete
Conceptual development

With the information gathered from the site visit and the focus group, the design team will start developing some initial plans

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Complete
Focus Group meeting #2

The department met with interested stakeholders to get feedback on some of the proposals for the corridor.  

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Complete
Safety demonstration (Community Meeting #2)

In summer 2023, the department will host  safety demonstration along the corridor, demonstrating some of the proposals for suggested corridor updates. 

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Complete
Focus Group Meeting #3

Once some of the initial designs have been determined, the department will once again talk with a select group of stakeholders to verify that these concepts are in line with the vision that the community has shared.

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Complete
Final Road Safety Audit completed

From the information gathered during the second meeting, the initial conceptual plans will be modified and finalized.

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In Progress
Community meeting #3

A final public meeting will share the plans for the corridor.

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Not Started
Construction begins

Construction on this project is slated to begin in 2026, at this time.

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What is the situation?

In 2026, MoDOT is planning to resurface Route D (Page Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive) from Skinker/Kienlen Avenue to Tucker Boulevard. During a resurfacing project, it is the right time to determine what improvements may be made to the road to make it safer and to make it operate more efficiently and effectively.  

For the past several years, MoDOT has been evaluating the Route D corridor and talking to the community to determine what issues residents, business owners and commuters experience along the corridor, and what potential safety measures they would consider in an effort to help ensure the roadway meets the vision for the community and remains safe. 

This is very similar to the process that was completed along Natural Bridge within the city limits a few years ago.

In March 2023, the department started a road safety audit to assess existing traffic trends and roadway conditions, to evaluate alternatives and to work with the community to develop community-supported designs that address the community’s issues and needs. Recommendations from that study are incorporated into the resurfacing project. 

What is the proposal?

The project area extends almost six miles along Route D between Skinker Boulevard on the west to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, then Dr. Martin Luther King Drive to Tucker Boulevard to the east. 

Planned work includes replacing the asphalt driving surface, updating striping and crosswalk markings, installing some new signal equipment and a combination of safety improvements.

Based on the discussions with the community, those safety improvements include reducing the number of lanes (road diet) or reducing the width of lanes (lane diet), installing concrete median strips in targeted areas to discourage passing in the center turn lanes, adding buffers around parking lanes to allow an area for open doors, installing pedestrian refuge islands to reduce crossing lengths for pedestrians and pairing those with flashing warning beacons at several non-signalized pedestrian crossings.

Too many lives have been lost or changed due to roadway crashes on Rte. D (Page & MLK). These safety improvements are intended to work together to reduce speeding and aggressive driving, as well as making the roadway safer for pedestrians by shortening how much space they need to cross and placing pedestrian crossing warning signs closer to the roadway. 

What were the results of the study?

During the road safety audit, the department saw a significant amount of speeding along the corridor, as well as extremely aggressive driving, where drivers used shoulders, parking lanes or other methods to weave around traffic.  Over time, this has lead to a significant number of crashes on the corridor.  This stretch has a crash rate that is six times the statewide crash rate for similar roadways.  In the five years between 2020 to 2024, there were a total of 1,100 crashes including 14 fatal crashes and 85 serious injury crashes. Five of the fatal crashes and eight of the serious injury crashes involved pedestrians. Since this study began in 2023, there have been six fatalities, of which three were pedestrians. There have also been 28 serious injuries, including five pedestrians, and 250 minor injuries, including five pedestrians in that time as well. 

During the study, residents, business owners, commuters and other interested individuals shared many of the same concerns about high levels of speed and aggressive driving.  During a safety demonstration in summer 2023, the department shared how various safety measures could slow down and improve the flow of traffic without impacting the ability of traffic to move through the area, even during periods of high volume. 

During the demonstration, attendees could share their thoughts on the safety measures and provided a lot of input on those measures they thought were the most helpful and appropriate for the corridor.  They included center medians, curb bump outs, pedestrian refuge islands and road and lane diets. 

What are MoDOT’s responsibilities on Route D?

MoDOT has a maintenance agreement with the city of St. Louis for certain roads within the city limits. MoDOT is responsible for maintaining signals, signs, striping, sweeping and pavement maintenance on Route D. St. Louis City retains ownership and responsibility for everything else. During this process, MoDOT will work with the city of St. Louis to evaluate and consider other safety improvements outside of the above maintenance responsibilities.

For concerns beyond MoDOT’s responsibility, please contact the city of St. Louis citizens service bureau at 314-622-4800.

 

Project Timeline

November 2022  Project start
March 2023  Initial Road Safety Audit site visit
March 2023  First community meeting and first focus group
March-August 2023  Development of improvement alternatives
Summer 2023 Second focus group
Summer 2023 Safety demonstration to test proposed improvements
August 2023  Third focus group to evaluate draft recommendations
December 2023  Final Road Safety Audit completed
Summer 2025  Final community meeting to discuss final recommendations
2026  Road resurfacing project starts
Summer 2027  Road resurfacing project complete

Questions about the project?

Contact Photo
Jennifer Wade
Jennifer Wade, P.E.
Title
Area Engineer -- St. Louis City
Department
St. Louis District
Contact Info

Phone: 314-624-7462
E-mail: jennifer.wade@modot.mo.gov 

St. Louis Customer Service
Contact Info

slcrrep@modot.mo.gov

Phone 314-275-1500 or 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636)