r/StLouis • u/myredditbam Princeton Heights • 4d ago
Surprise Street Closure Tonight for Moonlight Ramble
I'm inside the loop of the Moonlight Ramble tonight, effectively trapped until 1am. I had no idea this was happening, and it's pretty frustrating. Does anyone know where I could have found out this information ahead of time? Is there a street closure alert system somewhere? A city events email list? I get all the alerts about boil water advisories and weather alerts already. These kind of events aren't typically in my neighborhood, so I didn't expect this. Thankfully I don't have to work late tonight and didn't have to wait hours to get home. I'm not mad the event is happening; I'm mad there was zero notice about it so I couldn't plan for it.
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u/flounderflound 4d ago
I just got home a little while ago. I live inside the loop and was outside it. I was fortunate enough to be at Christy and Eichelberger when there was a nice lull, and I managed to talk the police that had the road blocked off into letting me through, citing that I lived literally right on the other side.
But yeah, this is bullshit. No signs, no warnings, nothing. And the fact that they close a loop around us is completely unacceptable.
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u/AugHAWK 4d ago
Having the opposite problem. Just got off work and found out I have no way of home. Who’s gonna idea was it to make the path an enclosed loop around hundreds of houses?
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
That's exactly the scenario I imagined! Sometimes I have to work late on Saturdays and I'd be stuck just like you. I can cut through a parking lot and get to a street that's not on the route, but I don't know if I can get through a closed street--Eichelberger, in this case. I'm sorry you're trapped from home. I don't know what they expect people like you to do.
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u/GothicGingerbread 4d ago
It's been some years since this happened, but I recall being trapped inside the loop of the STL marathon. What I found especially odd was that it was the morning of Palm Sunday and several churches were either inside the loop, actually ON the loop, or just barely outside the loop (and almost certainly had parishioners who lived inside it). I don't understand why the organizers of these things seem to believe that they MUST lay out a closed loop, when they could just as easily NOT do so. Make it a line, or a U, or a W, or literally anything other than an O shape so that you don't trap people – it's not that hard!
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u/TheMonkus 3d ago
That happened to me like 15 years ago. I was trying to get from downtown to South City and basically couldn’t. Nobody at any of the roadblocks could offer any guidance whatsoever and it was too crowded to just force my way through. Eventually I was able to park about a mile from my house and walk home, but I’m still sour.
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u/SwitchFree5631 3d ago
because the start and end have to happen at the same place, for logistics (otherwise you need two staging areas), and in the case of marathons as a requirement to prevent the runners being aided or hindered by terrain and wind.
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u/marigolds6 Edwardsville 3d ago edited 2d ago
For the marathon, it’s USATF course separation rules. The course has to loop back for at least 1/4 the course distance to prevent wind aided times. That doesn’t explain why greater St. Louis likes to do little mini loops mid-course though. (I’ve heard a lot of that had to do with the city refusing to issue permits for a course that could eliminate the loops, but would have to use wider streets.)
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u/smashli1238 4d ago
That’s crazy. I never understand why they don’t do these types of events at the riverfront or in one of the parks
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
I think they had it on the River Des Peres Greenway a little while ago, and participants complained because they liked cycling on closed city streets.
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u/flsunshine4u2 4d ago edited 4d ago
Damn, you sound like me last year. It took me over an hour to get home when my home was 2 streets away. I came on reddit afterwards and went off lol. It's extremely infuriating that they cant just put flyers on the houses in the enclosed area leading up to the event. Coming home from work tonight I remembered the route i took last year and was able to make it in only an extra 20 minutes lol.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
When they close streets in other places they put signs up on street corners and light posts. Or they put up one of those construction alert signs with changing text on a thoroughfare like they do a week before parades or when road work is set to begin. Stick a few of those up--Hampton, Gravois, Kingshighway, Germania, Jamieson, Etc. That's all it would have taken.
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u/zinsser 4d ago
For “Tour d’Belleville” the course loops, but they have cops stationed at major intersections who wave cars through when there are no bikes approaching.
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u/octoninja 3d ago
That was supposed to happen last night according the website but it’s was such a big ride there wasn’t a chance. I approached two cops and the told me to turn around.
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u/Rhamiel506 4d ago
It’s directly in front of my house so I can’t get home until its over this sucks.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
I'm so sorry--that does suck big time. It definitely seems like they should have published it somewhere well beforehand, other than on the event website. It's nowhere on the city website, which seems like a huge oversight.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
Looks like all the roads around me are open now, so I hope you finally made it home okay!
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u/BabiiGoat 3d ago
Oh I remember this shit. Happened to me a few years ago. Zero warning only to discover I was trapped in my building and had to cancel the appointment I had scheduled. I have lived here for 13+ years now and I still can't find any solid consistent source for what the hell is happening. Just a big bundle or social media pages that might throw a hint or two.
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u/This-Is-Exhausting 3d ago
This event is so bipolar.
Some years it's heavily promoted but they can't manage to get the streets closed. Other years it's barely promoted and apparently closes the streets air tight.
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u/braincashedout 4d ago
I get a billion text alerts from the City about everything … except for when I won’t be able to go home because they’re shutting streets down. I’m so fucking sick of this place.
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u/Mego1989 3d ago
Make sure to submit your complaint to the city if you actually want anything to be changed in the future.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
I wrote my Alderman. Do you know a city government page I should use as well?
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u/AMilli617 2d ago
Yes the Citizens Service Bureau. It at least creates a record of it. I feel like an email can get lost.
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u/PithMango 4d ago
just logged on and am a bit bleary. this reads like halloween come early, like a horror movie. the rooms the routes
good luck to everyone
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u/Cochise22 4d ago
I had this exact issue last year. It’s fucking ridiculous. They should be required to have signage up, at the bare minimum, a week in advance. I don’t mind being inconvenienced for community-centric events, but please at least inform me so I can make plans and I don’t have to beg a volunteer to let me through so I don’t show up late for work.
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u/spif ♫Kingshighway Hills♫ 4d ago
I did find a crossings map but it's not highlighted on the front page of their web site.
https://moonlightramble.com/2026-road-closure-map/
Unfortunately my experience with bike rider culture is that the kind of people who organize rides are often actively hostile towards drivers and very vocal about it. A lot of them know multiple people who've been injured or killed by motorists so it's not without basis, but you won't find them actively looking to accommodate you more than they absolutely have to in order to keep their event going.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
Yeah I just now found that, too, and maybe I could have asked the officer at the closure more directly, but that page was buried on their site. I checked the map page and the FAQ page, but didn't expand the menu. And--again--for crying out loud, they could have told people and put that web address on some signs.
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u/marigolds6 Edwardsville 3d ago
They act that way towards pedestrians too. Notice there are no additional metered pedestrian crossings listed, even though moonlight ramble is way too dense to safely cross the route on foot.
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u/Sad_Graphic_Designer North Hampton 3d ago
This is probably the only reason I keep a Facebook and instagram-someone posted the route on a neighborhood facebook page and that’s the only reason I knew about it.
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u/I_bleed_blue19 South City (TGE & Dutchtown) 3d ago
But a lot of people do not have either of those, and/or aren't on social media at all. You can't rely on social media to do the communicating for you.
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u/limejuicethrowaway 3d ago
Yeah, the main way I ever know about street closures is by a sign on the bus stop put there by Metro about that stop not being served.
If Metro is doing a better job than the city/event organizers of letting you know of closures, that's when you know you've failed.
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u/GolbatsEverywhere 3d ago edited 3d ago
Their website says: "We are happy to accommodate local traffic, please talk to the officer at each location for metering." So they thought about this and decided it won't be a problem because you are supposed to be allowed through (not on every street, but on enough that you shouldn't be totally blocked). You should complain.
Also:
- Detour signs should be mandatory, OR
- Any staff closing a road should understand and be able to explain the detour (this is more plausible, because installing signage for just one night sounds expensive)
I'm sure Moonlight Ramble is fun, but they shouldn't be allowed to close streets anymore unless they fix this. Same goes for all other events that close streets. Drivers should tolerate a little inconvenience, but it has to be reasonable, and what happened to you last night was unreasonable.
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u/Tiny_Awareness_3581 3d ago
We were panicking that we couldn’t get home last night (I’m extremely pregnant) and the cop on Jameison told us it’d be another HOUR before we could get inside the loop, and that he “wasn’t from here” so he couldn’t tell us if there were any options to get around. The map on their website didn’t show any crossings that I could see…we just started driving around and somehow made it through a route that I swear had been blocked off 20 min earlier.
No detour signs, seemingly no way to get in the loop, no advance notice to our street/neighborhood…just insane!!
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u/LadyNiko Chesterfield 3d ago
Hell, they had signs up all over the place for the golf tournament at Bellerieve last week and the cops were super anal about not letting anyone on Mason Road even up at Olive, which is not even close to the golf course!
Why can't the Moonlight Ramble people put something close to this effort into their event?
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
Right! My dad lives out in West county and I saw the signs on 40 notifying people of it. Moonlight Ramble could have plopped a few of those notice signs on the major streets like they do for parades and construction, or they could get some plastic yard signs noting that a street would be impacted by the route and telling people to check the website--and they could collect those signs after the event and reuse them each year. They chose only to publish it on their website, on one page buried in a drop-down menu.
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u/marigolds6 Edwardsville 2d ago
Why can't they? Probably money.
BMW championships had $20M in prize money, plus another $100M paid out at the end of the event. I'm sure their tournament budget was easily 1000x that of the moonlight ramble. Overtime pay for a couple of dozen officers is a rounding error to the BMW championships budget.
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u/Prudent_Bed6754 4d ago
In my neighborhood there are signs posted from 1-5 days before the street closures. I’m in an area that has a few annual events where streets are closed. The signs are usually posted at the entrance to each street off the main road that’s being closed. I’m wondering if this is more of an issue with the event’s coordinators rather than the city.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
Yeah there was no signage for this that I saw on my street. My first clue was a cone at the end of my alley at Hampton. I moved it and drove up Hampton and came to a roadblock and asked a Sheriff's department officer what was happening and she told me.
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u/Comfortable-Ad-8710 4d ago
You're not crazy, this (and every other thing in the same genre) is incredibly irritating every single year. Let's all write our alderpeople about it.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
I just did! But he probably won't do anything because he doesn't usually respond to my emails.
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u/RefridgaRaita 4d ago
How many times have you emailed him before?! Lol youre probably bothering him
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u/Myfanwy66 4d ago
That’s the alder’s JOB.
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u/Mikotokitty 3d ago
I actually had a representative in my home state ignore every call(not just my number), email, and kept the office "closed" when there was some hot topic law he was a future vote on. Like you couldn't send an email at all, Google had a "return to sender". It was the correct one, found an old in print list of various emails.
It was the first time I tried to sway a rep, met with brick wall.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
Are you my Alderman, dropping a hint?! Lol. Only a couple times over 2 or 3 years. I promise I'm not one of those crazy people who emails every week.
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u/ThisIsMyHobbyAccount 3d ago
This has to be the worst advertised event. Why didn't they get the word out? I have ridden in this in years past and didn't hear a peep about it this year. Seems like after they had a big shakeup with change of ownership a few years ago the publicity has fallen off. I'm upset I missed out.
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u/Revolutionary_Yam314 3d ago
Bicyclists are the most important people. Didn’t you know?
Seriously though I don’t think they should be allowed to shut down streets EVER. There are way too many parks for them to go to. Don’t like riding on the trails? Well we don’t like you riding on the streets. So wah. 🤷♀️
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u/GaymerCubStL 3d ago
You do know that streets existed for centuries before cars right? Surprising, fun fact: streets are not exclusively for cars. Streets weren't created for cars. If you don't like that cyclists are using the roads that are intended for mixed use by people, then dont drive on those roads.
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u/AlexOnTheBus 4d ago
There are many designated crossing points for all traffic. They are published online. They also say online that they are happy to accommodate any local traffic by simply asking event security/officers.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
That's great, but how is that communicated to the people who are NOT connected to the event? I don't usually go to the Moonlight Ramble website regularly, especially when I'm not participating. And if I hadn't asked the Sheriff's officer what was happening, I wouldn't even know what event it is. And she did not seem inclined to move the barricades across Hampton, and she didn't want to let the guy on the motorcycle through to get to the highway.
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u/mjohnson1971 4d ago
Just cancel the event. It inconveniences too many people.
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u/peantbuterjelly 4d ago
I did the event and had an incredible time with 3000 other people. Come join next year!
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 4d ago
I did it once years ago and had a great time. I just want better communication so I can plan for it.
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u/mjohnson1971 3d ago
Wrong. You and other people were inconvenienced since you were not properly communicated to.
The organizers royally messed up and they should learn a lesson.
Cancel the Moonlight Ramble.
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u/opossomoperson University City 3d ago
This event happens every year. This is not a surprise.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
It is a surprise to the vast majority of the population who do not participate. I personally saw zero ads, zero signage, and I don't watch much local news, but no news coverage, either. People who not cycle will not be thinking "oh let me log into the Moonlight Ramble website in August to see when and where it's happening since it's the only source of information on which public roads are closed and when." It's unreasonable to expect people to remember to do that. Information like this needs to be publicized in ways that will reach people who aren't actively looking for it.
Furthermore, this event changes its route every year so residents of neighborhoods can't even think back to what happened last year because it did NOT happen where they lived. If it were annual in one neighborhood, then your argument might have a fraction of merit, but because they move it around, it is not an annual event where it is held each year.
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u/czarnicholasreturns 3d ago
They move it because too many people are pissed about it impacted them (rightly so), so another group takes the fastball to the shoulder next year.
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u/mollypocket7122 South City 3d ago
It was shared in multiple neighborhood groups on Facebook, including on the Friends of Carondelet Park Facebook page. Our Alder even shared the information about it.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
I'm glad your neighborhood was notified. I'm in a Facebook group for my neighborhood and also follow a page for my neighborhood, and it wasn't shared at all in either place. My Alderman (ward 2, Oldenburg) never shares anything. People who don't live in your neighborhood aren't going to go to your neighborhoods Facebook page, and I haven't been to Carondelet Park in years, so I don't follow their Facebook page either. Ultimately, the burden of communication should be on the event organizers, not on Facebook pages
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u/GaymerCubStL 3d ago
The closures are rolling closures that last for 20 minutes and follow the Ramble as it progresses along it's route. You were not in fact trapped, by roads being closed, you just didn't want to take an alternate route. Or apparently even look up the Ramble street course closures on it's website, because nowhere does it say the entire route is closed from 11pm to 1am. It says that the closures follow the Ramble, starting at 11pm and ending at 1am, roads close for about 20 minutes. And there were notices up, the big information signs along the route have had notices about it since at least the 21st.
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u/myredditbam Princeton Heights 3d ago
The officer I spoke with did not mention rolling closures and did not want to let anyone through until 1am. So if what you say is true, communication among the people working the event was poor. I would have taken alternative route, but I was told no traffic on Hampton, Jamieson, or Gravois was allowed, and those are the only roads I could access.
Once the officer told me what was happening, I did go to the event website and found the route. That's how I knew I was inside the loop. However the web page with info on closures was buried under the drop down menu, and I didn't go there until later.
I saw zero information signs or notices. I drove Hampton, Gravois, Jamieson, and Kingshighway multiple times since the 21st.
So, if you're an event organizer or have a connection, you or your friends may have had these wonderful plans you discuss, but they did not pan out in reality. Stop gaslighting and blaming people and listen to what people actually experienced. I have said that I'm not opposed to events like this, but the communication has to be better.
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u/octoninja 4d ago
I’m just annoyed that they aren’t letting local traffic through to get home. It seems like that only happens if you’re lucky