Motorists caught on unfinished Highway 40
There’s no doubt that the closed section of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) is moving right along — but it’s certainly not ready for driving.
Nevertheless, in the last week, construction crews have reported that several drivers have ignored the barricades at Kingshighway and driven onto the newly paved highway. They’ve made it as far as Hampton Avenue before getting out of the work zone.
Whether motorists are confused (not likely) or driving onto the workzone for a thrill ride (more likely), it’s a dangerous practice. The construction area has hundreds of moving parts, ranging from bulldozers to workers. The pavement has gaps in it. “You can drop a foot off the existing pavement and that’s a pothole you’ll never forget,” said Dan Galvin, spokesman for Gateway Constructors.
In the next couple of weeks, crews expect to hit a major milestone: finishing the lanes. Next, they must finish shoulders, median walls and tie together the highway with the exit and entrance ramps. Last week, they poured the bridge deck for the Big Bend Boulevard overpass. Like last year, the highway looks like it will reopen early, but no one officially will say this yet.
As for the impatient thrill seekers, Gateway Constructors plans to talk with St. Louis police about monitoring the workzone and ticketing anyone who enters it.
“…a pothole you’ll never forget” LOL!
Well if it wasn’t so backed up in the supposed detours…
They’ll prolly find themselves being tasered to death!
“Don’t Tase Me Bro!”
(I’ve often thought that would make a great flag like the Don’t Tread on Me flag)
dmb, hopefully you are kidding, but surely you are not saying it is okay to bypass the barricades and pass through the construction zone just because traffic is backed up? No one is in THAT big of a hurry, and if so, leave the house sooner, get up earlier, take a different route.
Driving by there the other day, I watched a guy in his truck drive down there, but he was wearing a orange road crew vest, so I assumed he was going to work. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, or maybe others have seen the same thing I did and presumed it was OK for them too.
Ms. Crouch,
I was traveling in a large metro area years ago when an impatient female driver cut through barricades to get around bumper-to-bumper traffic and to her exit ramp. She made it a car length before her car found one of those “potholes you’ll never forget.” The difference, this one was filled with wet cement.
YHS,
JPinSTL
Mr. dmb,
That’s no excuse.
YHS,
JPinSTL
Some people just have no regard for the safety of others much less the law. I hope the self centered morons who are doing this, severely damage their vehicles and then get a ticket; before they injure or kill the people trying to do their jobs to complete the work.
Near the new Hampton Avenue overpass that goes over I-64 (as you drive south towards Oakland Avenue) I swear there is a “new exit/entrance” that should be blocked off as it seems to be “open” — I know that it’s not ready for travel but I worry that persons unfamiliar with the area may enter that ramp by mistake.
As I rode my bicycle near the work site near the Zoo on Monday, I realized that the new, shiny pavement would be spectacular on my bike.
I didn’t do it Monday, but I’m thinking early on a Sunday might be worth the risk.
Not much work on Sunday mornings there, and coppers are mostly in church.
BikerMike
Wow, I never would have thought of doing this, thanks, PD!