New Mississippi River Bridge Expert Panel Meeting

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New Mississippi River Bridge Expert Panel
Meeting

• January 8-9, 2007

East-West Gateway Council of Governments
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The Bridges

• McKinley 2 lanes reopening to traffic in 2007
• King 4 lanes, connects to I-64 in Illinois
• Eads 4 lanes, connects to local streets
• Poplar Street 6 lanes, connects to I-70, I-55,
  I-44, I-64
• MacArthur RR bridge only

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Chronology

• 1990 EWG asks two states to start planning for
  a new bridge
• 1991 Location studies begin
• 1997 Northern alignment chosen
• 2000 Draft EIS
• 2001 Final EIS
• 2005 Earmarked funding in federal
  transportation bill
• 2005 Amended EIS for reduced scope
• 2006 Impasse over funding
• 2014 Construction completed ??????

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Project Cost

• 1997 - 515 million
• 2001 - 759 million
• 2002 - 922 million
• 2005 1.515 billion
• 2007 approx. 2 billion

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EWG Position

• Independent, objective, financial analysis of
  options
• Independent review panel of national experts to
  advise on design and financing options
• Continue to explore lower cost alternatives to
  fit available funding

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Reaching Consensus

• Information and discussion must be open and
  transparent
• Local elected officials must reach a conclusion
  and take a position
• Approach this decision with a sense of urgency
  construction costs increase as much as 10 a year
  / user costs are excessive

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Role of the Panel

• Clarify and illuminate choices
• Review conflicting facts and conclusions,
  offering opinions where appropriate
• Suggest pathways to a decision

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Thoughts about this process

• The objective is to build a bridge
• This is not an exit strategy nor a means to
  question earlier decisions
• Time is short
• This is a public process high visibility
• Set forth choices in a way that will rekindle
  public dialogue

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Important things to know about the geography,
economy, politics, and people of the St. Louis
region.
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The St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (2002)
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Characteristics of the Region

• 2.6 million residents
• 8,649 square miles in size
• 1.2 million people in workforce
• 1,000,000 households
• 17,662 miles of roads (490 miles of which are
  part of the federal interstate system)
• 788 separate units of government

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East-West Gateway Council of Governments

• Incorporated in 1965 as a forum for cooperative
  problem-solving and coordinated development of
  regional  policy.
• Solve problems that cross jurisdictional
  boundaries
• Board of Directors is comprised of chief elected
  officials in Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles and
  St. Louis Counties and the City of St. Louis in
  Missouri and Madison, Monroe and St. Clair
  Counties in Illinois.

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We are growing slowly but expanding rapidly.

• Total population up 4.5 1990 - 2000
• Net out-migration of 47,000 people, but
  in-migration since 2000
• Job growth in the bottom ten of 35 metro areas,
  improving since 2000
• Land consumed at rate ten times that of
  population

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We are a big region with many small communities.

• 200 municipalities 9 for every 100,000 people
• Two states urban, suburban and rural areas
• In top three metros in sense of community and
  voter participation
• 80 rate their community an excellent / good
  place to live 84 nationwide
• 71 say excellent / good place to raise children

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For every municipality, we have two additional
governments.

• More than 100 school districts in two states
• 111 fire districts 60 municipal fire
  departments
• 200 other special purpose districts
• Boundaries dont align

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We are aging faster than the rest of metro
America.

• Median age in 2000 was 36 years
• 8th highest among 35 metros
• 13 population 65 or older, 7th highest
• 4th in of households with older persons living
  alone
• Smaller labor force to support us
• (32nd out of 35)

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Where We Stand - 2006
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We are more discretely organized to raise and
spend less money than any other metro area.

• Second among 35 metros in local government units
  per capita
• Last in local govt revenue
• Third from the bottom in spending
• Last in local government debt

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Our regional economic strategy builds on assets.

• Business attraction and retention focused on
  five industry groups
• advanced manufacturing
• transportation and distribution
• financial services
• information technology
• plant and life sciences

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Questions?