Jeff: Last week you mentioned that when Hanley bridge opens, Eager/Hanley will be closed, and only access to 170 northbound via Hanley will be via Meridian. This will make this area much worst that it already is. Please make this Meridian route work. When you say "when Hanley bridge opens" is this one of those famous MODOT "one lane open" situation thus we claim victory? I mean come on, keep the bridge closed until all lanes are open, anything less will not improve anything. How much overtime is being worked to get Hanley interchange completed done, not much a lane or two open, I mean completely done.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: Cheer up Jeff. When Hanley opens there will be two lanes open in each direction. Right now it looks like (weather permnitting) that should happen late July or early August. The Meridian connection to Eager is not ideal but it has been working well for access to Dale and the traffic engineers will keep watching it to make sure it will work as well as it possibly can. The complete access to Eager from Hanley will be open in about three months.

Dan

Bob: Haven't asked many questions as of late, but today I have two. I know they were asked and answered in some manner, but I can't seem to find them in all of the chat logs.

My first question is about the reopening process. When you reopened the west half, you also had to shut down the east half at the same time. Thus, you had to close the entire construction zone. Will you have to close down the entire freeway again to reopen the east half, or will you go backwards exit by exit? When I say exit by exit, I basically mean on the EB lanes, will you start by reopening the Kingshighway exit and move west until you hit I-170; and on the westbound lanes, will you start at I-170 and work your way back to Kingshighway?

My second question is about the Clayton bridge. With how late it's being started, will it be open by the time the mainline is open? If not, does that go against the 12/31/2009 deadline to have all lanes open, or does that only include the mainline? Also, since you are starting that bridge approximately 8 months into the year, did you guys go "over schedule" in the reconstruction of the Oakland bridge, or did you anticipate it taking 8 months? Regardless, if you guys have to work on the Clayton bridge into 2010, will it be night work with lane restrictions, or will you guys be working on it during the day since it will likely be very cold?

Love the chats! I think it's a great way to keep the public informed in detail about the reconstruction. Every department of transportation should do this.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: No, the west half will remain open while we reopen the east half, though there will be some closures around the I-170 interchange as we restripe the ramps to a single lane. As for the sequence of opening we don't know yet, but it obviously won't happen all at once.

The 12/31/09 deadline refers to the mainline of the interstate, not the bridges, though we are planning to have Clayton open by then as well. We're not behind schedule on Clayton or anything else at the moment.

Dan

Kurtis Jr: Hello Dan & Linda,

I wish to report an ineffective stoplight, at the intersection of Lindell Blvd & Des Peres. When I press the pedestrian cross signal, I must wait a rather long time before the light will cycle. On Monday, I waited nearly 2 minutes to cross in the late afternoon. I could have jaywalked since there were gaps in the traffic, but I'd rather not risk it in St. Louis. Can you check into this?

Thank you.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: We'll pass that along to the city of St Louis. That intersection belongs to them.

Dan

jzeid: I noticed it said on the whats going on that the paving will be moving to the area between Big Bend and McCausland. When will it be between Clayton-Skinker and McCausland?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: After we've begun the section between Big Bend and McCausland. We'll have that being paved at the same time as we begin paving between I-170 and Claytonia Terrace.

Dan

zerp_99: As I travel east on 40 and take the two lane exit ramp to northbound 170, I realize that westbound 40 won't be able to merge onto northbound 170 unless the ramp I use is a single lane. Why didn't they plan a better transition? I mean, 40 west to n 170 was always a bottleneck. Now 40 east will have a similar bottleneck getting onto n 170. Either ramp has room for 2 lanes, but neither can merge onto n 170 without being a single lane. Is there a future plan to add another northbound lane after this project is done?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: If we had two lanes coming from the east and two lanes coming from the west and one lane coming north from Eager we'd have five lanes trying to merge into a three lane I-170. The single lanes ramps will be adequate to handle the traffic at the interchange once you consider that a lot of that traffic will be going through east and west, and exiting to Brentwood or Hanley. We aren't aware of any plans to add lanes to I-170.

Dan