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w i t h o u t  b o u n d . n e t
May 31st, 2006

Driving around with out-of-town visitors this weekend, I was frustrated anew by the St. Louis area highway system. This town has more one-way interchanges than anyplace I’ve lived. Examples:

  • US 40/I-64 and Big Bend. If you’re westbound on the freeway, you can get off and go either direction on Big Bend. If you’re eastbound, there’s no exit at all. From Big Bend, you can go eastbound on 40, but not westbound.
  • I-44 and Berry: From Berry, you can only go eastbound on 44. There’s no westbound onramp.
  • I-44/I-55 and I-64: If you’re northbound on 55 (which is combined with 44 E at that point) you can go east on I-64 to Illinois, but in order to go west on I-64 to the rest of the metro region, you have to do a very complicated maneuver involving exiting the freeway, making U-turns, and following signs through downtown.

What I didn’t notice until I was complaining about this to a friend today is the common thread in all these examples: trying to get on a westbound freeway is awfully difficult. Considering St. Louis’s nickname and former role, that’s rather ironic.

May 31st, 2006
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