The width of Washington Avenue, and other Midtown streets, is no longer justified in their current level of use. This isn’t 1946 anymore.
A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.
I think the width has more to do with the fact that streetcars used to run down the middle of so many streets, but four lanes were needed for the auto and truck traffic as well.
Newbies to my ‘hood in Western Kirkwood often wonder why “Old” Big Bend from Ballas Road to past Greenbriar CC is four lanes, since they know it was farmland waaay back when.
Answer – because the Meramec Highland streetcar had two sets of rails from the old Kirkwood Loop West on (now) Craig Drive to Ballas and then to the Highlands. This line was, of course, discontinued in (I think) the late ’20s.
I forgot…obviously Big Bend existed before the streetcars were added in the ‘teens (I think), so the road was simply widened to allow for cars and streetcars to coexist. I think the rails are still present under the center section – at least they were when I was a kid in the ’40s; they’d occasionally resurface under the center section’s asphalt cover in really hot weather.
Craig Drive, from the Woodbine Loop to Ballas, was simply wide enough for the street cars only.