St. Charles County Transportation Plan 2030 - East-West Gateway ...

to I-64, and Winghaven Blvd./Bryan Rd. from I-70 to I-64. Considerable in-fill is taking place north
of I-64/U.S. 40/61 from the Missouri River west to Lake Saint Louis Blvd. in the cities of Weldon
Spring, O’Fallon, Dardenne Prairie, Lake Saint Louis, and parts of unincorporated St. Charles
County. New residential development is occurring in the northern part of the county also on
available land in many older and well-established communities. They include areas north and south
of Mexico Rd., especially west of Mid Rivers Mall Dr., and north of I-70 from the city of St. Charles
west through old O’Fallon to Wentzville, especially north and south of Rt. P. In the Wentzville area
development continues all around the older parts of town and south of I-70 along Rt. Z and both
sides of Rt. N to I-64. New development has accelerated north of Wentzville from U.S. 61 west to
Warren County.
Using Census Bureau data as a benchmark and a considerable amount of other data, the Council
developed forecasts of population for the St. Louis Region. The latest forecasts are contained in the
Council’s report, “Long-Range Population and Employment Projections” prepared in June 2004.
It consisted of reviewing historical data from the census for 1980, 1990, and 2000, and then
producing a series of projections based on births, deaths, and in and out migration from the St. Louis
region. Comparisons were made of these forecasts to the history of the region’s population.
Change in population depends on many factors as previously described. Table 1 in Chapter 1
showed St. Charles County’s population grew at 48 and 33 percent from 1980 to 1990 and 1990 to
2000, respectively. During that time the region only grew by about 3 percent. Table 31 below
shows the forecasts of population for the region to year 2030. It shows the region’s population will
slowly increase at about 10 percent to about 2,700,500 while the county will grow by almost 30
percent to 408,000. This will make it the second largest next to St. Louis County.
The number of households will also grow but at a faster rate than the population because the size
of households is decreasing. For the St. Louis region households are expected to grow around 18
percent but St. Charles County will grow by 43 percent. The average household size will decline
throughout the entire region.
B-2. Employment Forecasts
Employment growth or decline and its distribution throughout the region has a major effect on all
modes of transportation, especially traffic on the region’s highway system. Travel for work has
always been a major item used in developing highway traffic forecasts. As a result, estimates of
future employment in St. Charles County and for the region were developed for this study.
Employment projections, unlike population projections, do not use a baseline of census data.
Instead, data is acquired from a number of agencies that provide employment information on persons
in the United States and the state of Missouri. In addition, data were collected from various agencies
in St. Charles County. Forecasts were then developed using an evaluation process which considered
the development outlook and potential for each county in the region. Employment forecasts were
developed by the Council for Legacy 2030, and details can be found in the Council’s June 2004
report cited above.
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