The Brentwood crawl
Drivers on Brentwood Boulevard today got a good dose of gridlock. It took twice as long to drive north on Brentwood during morning rush hour than it did before the second closure of Highway 40 (Interstate 64).
If you plan to take southbound Brentwood home from Clayton this evening you might want to reconsider. St. Louis County traffic officials expect the backups to be bad. This morning, Sheryl Hodges, head of the county’s highways department, advised drivers instead to take Interstate 170, Eager and Hanley roads. For evening drivers, take the Eager Road exit off of southbound I-170 and drive east. Then jump on southbound Hanley. Make the same drive in reverse in the morning.
The county’s Department of Highways and Traffic will be increasing green time on Brentwood Boulevard during peak hours to keep cars moving, Hodges said. But drivers should find other routes and avoid Brentwood during rush hours if they want to avoid backups.
No other major traffic problems were reported in the area. MoDOT, St. Louis and St. Louis County street officials say today was the true test of the region’s roads during the second phase of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) work. Forest Park Parkway traffic was heavy but flowed smoothly. City Streets Director Todd Waelterman said his crews are adjusting traffic signal timing daily as congestion shifts.
Click here for MoDOT’s traffic report.
MoDot needs to open up the eager entrance to get on 1-170. I live in Brentwood and work in Brentwood it took 28 min to get to my job 4 blocks away come on MoDot get you act together……
Sweety, if your job is only 4 blocks away, why are you driving?
Are you kidding me? You DRIVE 4 blocks?
Eager to I-170 entrance has been open since before Christmas.
Are the curb lanes on Brentwood complete and open ath “the new I-64″? They were not a couple of weeks ago, which I why I have not been on Brentwood since.
The entrance from Eager onto northbound I-170 is open and has been since the switchover. (Frankly, they never should have shut it.) It is possible that you may only be able to get on it if you make a right turn (going westbound on Eager). I thought I saw some cones set up to that effect last week, but I’m not sure. If so, and you are coming from Brentwood, I would take Rose into the Brentwood Promenade parking lot and cut through that to Eager so you can make the right turn onto I-170. But I could be wrong about the right-turn only thing.
Eager to 170 access is not fully open. Only west-bound Eager (those making a right turn onto 170) can get onto 170.
Sweety, I assume you have a medical condition that forces you to drive four blocks to work.
I am so glad I don’t have to drive that way to work any longer.
STL Co. Highways and Traffic can screw up a good blo.., um… well anyways… They come from the same school of thought that the St. Louis City uses on traffic light timing (yes, we’re talking about an issue a 5 year old, or a parrot, or an ape could figure out). I had to get to Radio Shack the other day on Brentwood. EVERY SINGLE LIGHT at almost EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION was red in succession. So, here I’ll pose the equation, and lets see if they can figure this one out: LOTS MORE CARS + LOTS OF RED LIGHTS = CONGESTION. Though that may be difficult for some to figure out, it is true that I waited at intersections where only one, sometimes no cross traffic was waiting, yet hundreds get delayed for the light. The City of St. Louis is worse, probably has the worst traffic light department in the United States. I’m headed north on Kingshighway at 2 AM. The light at Home Depot (just past Fyler Ave.) is red. Not one car needs the light the other way, because Home Depot and Sonic are closed. But what’s more annoying is that you must continue to wait while each individual lane gets a green. Again, we need to flush the ***ST. LOUIS STUPIDITY FACTOR*** down the toilet and hire some college-educated, competent help.
Why in heaven’s name was a city street department crew filling potholes on Forest Park Parkway this morning, closing an entire lane? Todd Waltermann, I’m talking to you.