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

public decisions, and does not mean that there is not a need. On the contrary, as the county’s
population grows and matures, the need for public transportation continues to increase, especially
with a growing and aging population.
The St. Charles County Transit Authority had a report prepared by the Council in the mid 1990's that
was updated in 2001 (see Chapter III) dealing with the needs and possibility of providing fixed route
transit. An update of that report has been requested by the County and the Council intends to
undertake this update in 2007. It will once again review the needs and possibility of the county
providing fixed route transit and what it may cost. Funding will once again be the major issue as
it will require a vote of the county’s residents to provide specific funding for that purpose.
Paratransit service has always been mainly a privately funded form of transportation for the elderly,
poor, and disabled part of the community. MoDOT, through their public transportation department,
and federal funds, provided from various programs handled by the Council, provided some
additional funds. The number of people requiring such services has continued to grow while the
amount of private and public funding has continued to shrink. The demand for these services has
always been in excess of existing funds. It is expected that the future will not be too bright in
supplying additional funds either from private sources, the state of Missouri, or the federal
government. This will result in simply more persons going without transportation service to
medical, shopping, or other types of needed activities. It will be left to others, relatives, friends, etc.,
to provide these transportation services to this segment of the population. The completion of the
updated report in 2007 by the Council may be helpful in more clearly defining these issues.
D. Railroad Projects
The need for funding future railroad improvements almost lies solely with the railroads. Some road
improvements involving railroad crossings or grade separations, are funded, at least partially, by the
County, MoDOT, or the private sector. Using safety data for the roads appears to be the best
barometer of where additional railroad crossing improvements should be made. These are discussed
in Chapter IV. However, there are a number of at-grade crossings that are in close proximity to
major roads. These include the crossing on Guthrie Rd. just north of the I-70/Lake Saint Louis Blvd.
interchange, Mid Rivers Rivers Mall Dr. just north of the I-70 interchange, and Rt. M (Main St.) in
O’Fallon. Back-ups in traffic caused by slow and long trains at these locations extend at times well
back into the high volume interchanges causing serious congestion and can extend further into traffic
flow on I-70. This introduces a very high crash prone situation. These locations should be
continually monitored by MoDOT, the County, and the railroads, and when deemed appropriate,
grade separations should be constructed.
The railroads have constantly been improving their facilities as this most competitive means of
transportation continues strongly in the United States. In St. Charles County, incentives can be used
by the county when it involves furthering gains in the private sector. County administrators will
continue this practice which will further enhance railroad investments.
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