Halt Red Gate bridge; give Stearns chance
This is a follow-up to James Fuller’s June 8 front page article, “Group fights bridge plan.”
These were additional talking points brought up to the St. Charles City Council opposing the construction of the Red Gate Bridge that did not appear in his article.
Downtown Main Street daily car counts have been reduced from 44,000 in 2009 to the current level of 38,000. The original estimation of downtown traffic flow reduction from the building of the bridge was calculated to be 10 percent. Levels are currently below that estimated number, with Stearns Bridge being a major contributing factor.
The bridge is not fully funded. The council intends to close the gap by borrowing an estimated $8 million through the issuing of a bond which will require St. Charles residents to repay the debt through higher taxes over the next 20 years. Because federal and state governments are admittedly broke, municipalities need to carefully watch their spending to avoid inherent deficits which will certainly raise the need for future borrowing to sustain current levels of service.
It is unclear if the state will come through on paying St. Charles the grant money earmarked for a new bridge. If the amount of unpaid promised funds from the state to District 303 is any indicator, the grant money for the bridge will not be paid.
This would significantly increase the size of the bond being issued and put additional and unneeded stress on taxpayers monthly budgets.
Stearns Bridge is in place and should be given the chance to prove its value as the new corridor linking the east and west sides of town. Interesting factoid: It takes 11 minutes and 20 seconds to drive from the parking lot of St. Charles North High School to the parking lot of St. Charles East using Stearns Bridge. Borrowing $8 million to save four to five minutes on our east/west commute by building a bridge 1.2 miles down the road from Stearns is simply not prudent or acceptable.
There is no money budgeted for future enhancements to Red Gate Road. The $30 million being spent is only for the bridge.
All we are saying is give Stearns a chance.
Mark Prieve
St. Charles