I-70 Two-Way To One-Way Frontage Road Corridor Economic Development Study

St. Peters, Missouri

City, county, and state officials commissioned a complex study of the potential benefits and costs of adding on-and-off slip ramps between two major suburban interchanges along I-70. This would allow local traffic to bypass the interchanges and ease some congestion. Doing so, however, would require conversion of a two-way frontage road system on both sides of the highway to one-way each direction. Development Strategies modeled and analyzed potential impacts on land economics, business location decisions, and accessibility for customers and employees.

The essential conclusion was that there would be no lingering negative impacts if local businesses planned ahead and adapted their sites and marketing pitches to the new road alignment. Given strong political forces and high capital costs, however, the slip ramp concept was abandoned and the frontage roads each remain two-way.

Development Strategies earlier conducted similar studies in Grandview, Missouri, and Norman, Oklahoma.