Predictions for the St. Louis area in 2011

I've decided to do a list of predictions for 2011 with three levels of confidence: High (or I'd be very surprised if it didn't happen, medium (could go either way; 50/50), and low (just for fun; I'd bet against them but am still guessing for the heck of it).

Note that most of these are being done on a combination of prior knowledge and gut feeling; I'm not reading any books or news articles as I type these.

High Confidence:

1) Gas prices will reach $4.09/gal for regular unleaded (87 Octane) on the Missouri side of the St. Louis area at this year.

2) A new multiple year transportation funding bill will not be passed in the U.S. Congress this year.

3) Left turn on red from a one-way street to another one-way street will remain illegal in Missouri.

4) No major movement on the Gateway Connector in Illinois. There may be some properties in the corridor being acquired, but the EIS process will not be started, nor will the project be completely dropped.

5) Illinois will not raise its speed limits on interstates to 70 miles per hour (this one is actually between medium and high confidence given the surprising attempt last year).

6) Major opposition will emerge to the South County Connector project.

Medium Confidence
1) Gas prices will reach $4.59/gal for regular unleaded on the Missouri side of the St. Louis area once this year.

2) Gas prices will stay above $4.00/gallon for regular unleaded for one month this year.

3) Red light and speed cameras will remain legal in Missouri (another one that would be in the high confidence group but I'm unsure how the Missouri legislature will act on it).

4) The new I-70 bridge across the Mississippi River will hit a snag that will either lead to costs increasing by at least $15 million or delay the project by at least six months. It may not necessarily be with the bridge, it could be with one of the contracts for the approaches, the Missouri Interchange, or the connections at the Tri-Level interchange in Illinois.

5) There will still be no word on which Metrolink expansion will be pursued next.

6) The Arch Grounds Redevelopment will proceed in the same method as planning for the I-70 Mississippi River Bridge: An expensive plan developed, available funding to achieve the plan will not be found, and the plan will be largely scaled back.

7) Major delays will occur on the Poplar Street Bridge due to more maintenance work.

8) The St. Louis area will have one too many red air quality days this year, and draw greater interest from the EPA.

9) The South County Connector will be shelved, with St. Louis County turning its attention to the Northwest Parkway or the River Valley Connector (or whatever the Chesterfield Valley to Maryland Heights route is being called now).

10) Definite, just awaiting funding plans will be well underway for the US 61 bypass of Hannibal, Missouri.

Low Confidence
1) A government agency in St. Charles County will provide funding to assist MoDOT with adding one or more interchanges to the US 61/Avenue of the Saints Corridor.

2) Plans for a new shopping center near the I-55 interchange will be announced in the latter half of the year, with serious work (not necessarily construction, but maybe planning and public meetings) for completing the interchange at I-55 and Weber Road.

3) Another Displaced Left Turn (like the MO 30 at Summit Road/Gravois Bluffs Boulevard intersection) or Median U-turn Intersection will be seriously considered somewhere on the Missouri side of the metro area.

4) A traffic calming project on a road in St. Louis City will trigger a large enough backlash that it is reversed (this includes anything from a four lane road being restriped to two lanes plus a center turn lane to a sidewalk extension at an intersection.

5) MoDOT will finally turn over Routes JJ and AB in St. Louis County to other agencies.

6) A project will start on I-70 in Missouri that will include evidence for the future truck only lanes.