Public Infrastructure and Utilities Committee Meeting - September 29, 2025

On September 29, 2025, the Public Infrastructure and Utilities Committee met to consider board bills for speed humps and receive a presentation on pedestrian and cyclist safety at transit stops. The meeting was called to order with five members present, establishing a quorum. The committee approved minutes from August 14, 2025, and passed two speed hump bills. The majority of the meeting featured a presentation by Griffin Lovato, a Washington University graduate student, on crash data analysis for MetroLink and MetroBus stops.

Board Bills for Review

• Board Bill 70: Presented by Alderman Aldridge, this speed hump bill was amended to add additional speed humps in the High Park area along Blair, Angel Rock, and Salisbury streets, where recent accidents occurred. The amendment was adopted, and the bill passed out of committee with a "due pass" recommendation by a vote of 6 ayes.
• Board Bill 61: Presented by Alderwoman Schweitzer, this speed hump bill covers one block where 20 out of 21 occupied properties petitioned for speed humps. The committee passed the bill with a "due pass" recommendation unanimously.

Presentation on Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety at Transit Stops

• Charles Bryson, Policy Director for Trailnet, introduced the presentation, noting that the study was conducted by Griffin Lovato as a capstone project. Lovato analyzed crash data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol STARS database for two time periods: November 1, 2018 to November 1, 2019, and November 1, 2023 to November 1, 2024. He used kernel density analysis to identify hazardous areas around MetroLink and MetroBus stops, categorized by light condition (daylight, dark lit, and dark unlit).
• Key findings: MetroLink stations are generally not affected by lack of lighting—no dark unlit crashes were found near them. MetroBus stops are far more affected by dark unlit crashes, especially in North St. Louis City and North St. Louis County. North St. Louis City has a combination of high public transit use and high hazard levels at bus stops. Specific wards and municipalities with elevated hazard ratings were highlighted, including Ward 3 (along Merrimack and South Broadway), Ward 6 (Grand Boulevard and Winnebago), and Ward 11 (Natural Bridge and Prairie). Municipalities such as Dellwood, Ferguson, Jennings, and Country Club Hills also showed high hazard for dark unlit conditions.
• Lovato noted that the STARS database does not capture whether a crash was directly related to the transit stop, only proximity. The data also does not include specific crash circumstances (e.g., crosswalk, sidewalk location).
• Committee members asked questions about sharing the data with Metro and Bi-State, the possibility of itemizing specific stops with hazard ratings, the role of pedestrian-scale lighting, and the design differences between bus stops and Metrolink stations. Lovato indicated that further analysis could be done with a spreadsheet of stop-level hazard ratings and that future work could examine bus stop designs.
• Chair Browning noted that a traffic study on Lindell Boulevard is underway, partly motivated by similar safety concerns, and emphasized the need for better data collection by officers.

Key Outcomes

• Board Bill 70 (as amended) passed out of committee with a 6-0 vote and a "due pass" recommendation.
• Board Bill 61 passed out of committee unanimously with a "due pass" recommendation.
• The committee requested that Griffin Lovato share the presentation slides with members and consider providing a hard drive or cloud access to the full data (approximately 30 GB).
• Charles Bryson and Trailnet were encouraged to share the findings with Metro and Bi-State for further action.
• No written testimony was received, and the meeting adjourned without further announcements.