New Bridge to Madison County

Well, we have a new winner in the "Most obvious reference for a blog post title, ever" contest. Even if it is really a rehabbed old bridge, the point still stands. KWMU has a story (link via Combest) on the reopening of the McKinley Bridge, connecting St. Louis City to Venice, Ill. 

For better or worse, the newly reopened bridge will no longer have tolls, like it used to. Because the fine people of Illinois paid for this project with their tax dollars, I really don’t care. I never minded paying the toll when I used the bridge before it closed in 2001, which I am sure was was no more than twice in my life.

That is not intended to discount the impact of the reopend bridge:

By contrast, when the McKinley Bridge opens next month, about 10,000 cars and trucks will cross daily. As proud as I-DOT officials are of the two-lane structure, district engineer Mary Lamie says another span is needed.

Ten thousand vehicles sounds to me like a lot of cars and trucks off of the Poplar Bridge. The article has a great nugget that effectively explains why mobility is so important:

The reopening is a big deal to people in the Metro East like Kenneth Wilkinson who crosses the river each day from Granite City to work in St. Louis. "This should knock off about 15 minutes each way a day," Wilkinson said at a ceremony last weekend on the McKinley Bridge. "If I can save that kind of time and money each day."

An additional half hour each day, either to spend with family or work to make money, rather than wasting it on gas while sitting in traffic. That is what mobility means to people.

Combine this with the repairs on 802 bridges that MoDOT will begin soon, along with the project moving ahead on the Paseo bridge in Kansas City, and it looks like Missouri and MoDOT — as well as IDOT — are seriously addressing the transpotation needs of Missouri, to the best of their abilities. But I have said that before.