Highway 370: Development corridor turns 10

By: By Tim Bryant, St. Louis Post Dispatch // November 15, 2006

A decade after Highway 370 pushed across 12 miles of flood plain, the $101 million road has helped drive a stretch of commercial development in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

Ten years ago this month, the final section of Highway 370 ? from Spencer Road to Interstate 70 in St. Peters ? opened to traffic.

At the time, officials predicted the new highway would draw 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles each day off frequently congested I-70.

That, and more, has happened. The latest figures from the Missouri Department of Transportation show that parts of Highway 370 carry more than 60,000 vehicles daily. The highway crosses the Missouri River on the Discovery Bridge, connecting Interstate 270 in Hazelwood and I-70 in St. Peters.

Since November 1996, much of the farmland near the highway has been converted to industrial parks and other development. More than 7.5 million square feet of mixed-use development in the corridor has produced 10,000 jobs, said Nadine Boon, economic development director for St. Charles and head of Discover! 370, a regional booster group.

"With even more on the horizon, that's a great reason to celebrate the first decade of this regional milestone," Boon said.

Julie Powers, St. Peters' planning director, said Tuesday the highway opened up a brown area of St. Charles County for a variety of uses. Key to St. Peters is the plan to develop Lakeside 370 Business Park, a nearly 1,600-acre tract the highway bisects.

"Highway 370 has allowed St. Peters to have a whole new era of development we might otherwise not have had," she said.

At the other end of the highway, in Hazelwood, the city's economic development director, Daniel Mears, said Boeing Co. and other major companies have established operations within the 370 corridor. The city's biggest 370-related development is St. Louis Mills, the mammoth mall that opened three years ago.

With more than a million square feet of stores and other commercial developments, the mall generates "significant" sales tax revenue for Hazelwood, Mears said.

He said the mall's location allows it to draw customers from St. Charles County and much of St. Louis County. Debbie Milligan, a mall representative, said St. Louis Mills is poised for further growth.

Ford's decision to close its Hazelwood assembly plant this year cost the city dearly in property, utility and business license taxes. But Mears said the mall and other new businesses along Highway 370 have lessened the painful loss of taxes and jobs Ford produced.

"I think one of the great things 370 offers is excellent access to St. Charles for coming in to Hazelwood for employment purposes," he said.

To mark the highway's first decade, Discover! 370 will honor business leaders and companies behind developments along the highway. St. Charles and St. Louis counties also will be honored at the reception Thursday night at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles.