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ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Monday, March 31, 2007
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Spring Showers Bring Flowers to St. Louis Area as Volunteers Work to Clean Up Litter Along Highways
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), March 31, 2008 - Everything looks better after a good scrubbing and Missouri's roadsides and waterways are no exception. Volunteers can help make Missouri beautiful by cleaning up litter during the annual No MOre Trash! Bash throughout the month of April.
"We are hoping for good weather this year, and twice as many volunteers as last year," said Stacy Armstrong, Missouri Department of Transportation, roadside management supervisor. "There's a lot of work to be done."
In 2007, despite record cold in April, more than 10,000 volunteers collected over 72,000 bags of litter and numerous truckloads of larger items that wouldn't fit into trash bags. People who helped clean up trash included MoDOT crews, Missouri Department of Conservation Stream Team members and other employees, Adopt-A-Highway participants, incarcerated crews and other volunteers.
Each year, MoDOT spends over $5 million to clear litter along highways throughout our state - mostly litter that people have thrown out the vehicle windows. The Missouri Department of Conservation spends an additional $1 million a year to clean up waterways and conservation areas.
The 3,776 Adopt-A-Highway groups and 3,502 Stream Team volunteers spend countless hours on cleanup, but trash continues to litter our roads and streams. Money spent on litter cleanup could resurface many miles of roads, replace and repair bridges, improve habitats for wildlife and people and enhance parks and nature centers.
"Ultimately, we'd like to get people to stop littering altogether," said Armstrong. "We're working with lots of young people now and they can help change the future to make Missouri litter free."
The month-long Bash supports No MOre Trash!, a year-round litter prevention campaign established by the Missouri departments of Conservation and Transportation to raise litter awareness. Volunteers can help during the month of April by scheduling litter pickups, educating others about litter and/or conducting or participating in litter-free activities. Volunteers who report their activity will be recognized for their efforts with a lapel pin.
St. Louis May Be Considered As Hub for New Trade Route and Passenger Link with China
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), March 30, 2008 - Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley have signed an agreement with Wang Changshun, Vice Minister of General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, to promote a new St. Louis-to-China trade route and passenger link.
The memorandum of understanding is an agreement between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the State of Missouri, the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri and the St. Louis Airport Authority. The document was signed following meetings with Chinese officials and Blunt, Slay, Dooley and U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill. It is the second agreement signed by Missouri and Chinese officials as part of this bipartisan trade mission.
"This has been a highly successful trade mission and we have made significant progress in promoting the benefits of creating a new trade route between St. Louis and China," Gov. Matt Blunt said. "In order to remain competitive in the global economy, we must aggressively pursue opportunities like this one to create jobs for our workers, new markets for our products and economic growth for our state."
"Our goal here is to create two-way trade with the Chinese and good jobs for St. Lousians," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said. "I could not be more pleased with this agreement. It raises the prospect that Lambert could be not only a freight hub but a passenger hub for the Chinese. We really couldn't ask for anything more."
"We are extremely pleased with the details of the memorandum of understanding and I know our entire Missouri delegation believes that it signals a very encouraging trend with our friends here in China," St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley said.
"The City of St. Louis is known as the Gateway to the American West and we believe it can one day become known as the Gateway to the East, especially China," U.S. Senator Kit Bond said. "This historic agreement will mean jobs for Missouri workers and the start of an important and strategic relationship between the city of St. Louis and China."
"Our bipartisan Missouri delegation has worked together during this trip in an effort to create jobs for Missourians and to make a sincere attempt to correct the trade imbalance between the U.S. and China," U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said. "We are optimistic that our efforts will pay off for our state and the Midwest region."
The RCGA's Fleming said, "This is an exciting agreement. We are pleased that the Chinese aviation leaders have agreed to do a joint assessment with the State of Missouri and the RCGA of the feasibility of establishing an air freight hub at Lambert Field. Increasing imports and exports -- especially exports -- to China through the St. Louis area would lead to a significant expansion of jobs and economic development here. The RCGA could not be more pleased with what our bipartisan delegation has achieved."
The memorandum of understanding states there is agreement among officials that given St. Louis' location at the center of the U.S., Lambert-St. Louis International Airport can become a potential center for Chinese airfreight and passenger flights.
The agreement includes a joint study to assess the potential of Lambert becoming a Chinese airfreight and passenger hub, and the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County becoming a commercial base for expanded two-way trade, exchanges and investments between China and Missouri and the Midwest region. A joint group will be established to conduct the study which is to be completed within six months.
As part of the agreement, a joint delegation composed of Air China Cargo and relevant departments of the Civil Aviation Administration of China will visit Missouri to examine the potential of achieving these objectives.
Gov. Blunt also signed an agreement with the Investment Promotion Agency and the Trade Development Bureau to lay the groundwork for making St. Louis a possible transportation hub for trade with China.
Participants in the trade mission to China include Gov. Matt Blunt, U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan; St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay; St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley; and former Mo. Gov. Bob Holden who serves as the Vice Chairman of the Midwest U.S.-China Association and was invited by Gov. Blunt. Business leaders include Richard C. D. Fleming, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA); David L. Steward, chairman and CEO of World Wide Technology; and executives with Pfizer, Peabody Energy, Unigroup, McEagle Properties, the World Trade Center St. Louis, and Lambert St. Louis International Airport.
Buildings and Landmarks Lit Orange to Promote Work Zone Awareness Week
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), March 30, 2008 - As highway construction again gears up for the year, MoDOT is working to prevent work zone accidents by reminding motorists, "Don't Barrel Through Work Zones." Billboard and radio advertising throughout the state will carry that message through the construction season.
MoDOT is also sponsoring Operation Orange for the second year to increase work zone awareness and honor fallen workers by lighting state landmarks orange during Work Zone Awareness Week, April 7-11. In addition to MoDOT buildings statewide, other facilities that will be lit orange include the St. Louis Science Center Planetarium, Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Zoo, the Boone County Courthouse, the Shelter Insurance Gardens' fountain in Columbia, the Emerson Bridge in Cape Girardeau, Hammons Field in Springfield and the Branson Landing.
Work zones will be all over the state again this year as MoDOT continues its Better Roads, Brighter Future initiative. The plan calls for improvements on 5,600 more miles of major roadways by 2011 and will bring 85 percent of Missouri's roadways up to good condition.
The Better Roads, Brighter Future program targets highways carrying 80 percent of all traffic on the state highway system-that's 103 million miles traveled a day. When the program is complete at the end of 2011, the improved roads will prevent approximately 85 disabling injuries and save 10 lives every year.
Beginning this year, crews will also be working hard on the Interstate 64 construction project in St. Louis, as well as the kcICON project to improve Interstate 29 and Interstate 35 in north Kansas City, including a new Christopher S. Bond Bridge. Work will also begin on the Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement Program, which will improve 800 bridges over the next five years.
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