Updating the St. Louis region’s long-range transportation plan

To support development of the Connected 2050 long-range transportation plan, we assisted the East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG)—the metropolitan planning organization responsible for serving the St. Louis region—in updating the region’s long-range transportation plan to reflect new aspirations and priorities and to assess transportation equity.

To establish a vision and priorities for the future of the regional St. Louis transportation system—including highways, bridges, public transit, bicycle, and pedestrian routes—EWG undertook a focused effort to update the region’s Guiding Principles which serve as the foundation for its transportation plan. For more than a decade, EWG used a set of 10 Guiding Principles as a basis for its long- and short-range planning. Recognizing changing aspirations for the region, EWG wanted to ensure that its new Connected 2050 plan reflected current goals. Aware that the region has racial disparities and relatively high levels of segregation compared to peer regions, EWG also needed to explore transportation equity. In doing so, they wanted to understand how past transportation investment decisions influenced outcomes for different population groups, evaluate how the system currently serves the needs of residents, and develop recommendations to ensure that transportation works for everyone.