DogEatDog: Will the C/D roads have actual street names when finished? Plus, I love the paint color for the soundwalls.

Also, could have Eager Road between Brentwood Blvd & I-170 been staightened some? there appeared to be room to do that, or would that have required another electric signal for Brentwood Blvd.?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: No. They will not have street names. They will be marked as ramps. They really are just long ramps that connect from Hanley to Brentwood.

We didn't make any changes to Eager. It is a county road and we didn't make any changes. We just resurfaced the intersection at Eager and I-170.

Linda Wilson

stlblues1993: Is I-44 ever going to be reduced to four lanes again, and if so, how long would the restriping take?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: We will have a contract in spring 2010 to resurface I-44 from I-270 to I-55 and then restripe it all back to four lanes. This cannot happen until spring because we need warmer temperatures for asphalt. The work will be done at night and complete by the fall.

Linda Wilson

gregl: Last month, you had said you wouldn't have an announcement about when the highway would open until November. Well, now that it's November *AND* it's not supposed to rain for the next week, spill the beans! :-)

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: It is only Nov 4. We lost 21 days to rain in October with 12 1/2 inches of rain instead of the normal 2 1/2 inches. The crews are assessing where we are. We don't want to give an exact date and not be able to make it. We don't have a date yet.

Linda Wilson

StlMax: Hello again Linda and Dan.
My question is associated with the so called "jug handle" and its intent.

I have heard St. Louis County officials tout that the Hanley/Eager road intersection is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, in all of St. Louis County and their goal is to improve traffic flow through this area; hence, the spending of the funds with MODOT and Gateway Constructors to eliminate the old stop light at this intersection via the jug handle design. Based upon prior projections of $40+ million dollars and actual costs of single digit millions doing it in conjunction with the new I-64 project seems like a reasonable expenditure IF it increases flow along Hanley, particularly southbound during evening rush hour.

My question is whether there are plans to eliminate the left turn option for northbound Hanley road traffic onto Musick Memorial Drive, nee Meridian? If this action is taken it would require both Eager and Musick traffic to use the jug handle. This would be a very positive development in my opinion because it would move the Eager-or-Musick decision onto Eager road and off of Hanley. Currently northbound traffic is going to the jug handle for Eager while also using the left at Musick for both Musick and Eager road access. By requiring exclusive use of the jug handle, Musick traffic can use the left turn lane at the Musick/Eager intersection. The extra time to circle around to the other end of Musick via the jug handle is offset by the time currently spent sitting in the left turn lane on Hanley waiting to turn onto Musick.

The effects of the elimination of the left off of Hanley are very positive for the following reasons: 1)It would allow southbound Hanley road traffic an extra 30 seconds each cycle of the traffic signal by also being concurrent with the southbound left onto Dale Ave.(This is significant when the historical traffic coming out of Clayton on southbound Hanley at rush hour is combined with eastbound I-64 traffic coming off the southern Collector/Distributor); 2) it would significantly reduce the traffic load on Musick Memorial Drive, which wasn't designed for this kind of load, by eliminating short cutters to Eager road; 3) it would be safer for pedestrians crossing to and from the parking garage and/or MetroLink station, i.e. they wouldn't have to dodge cars; and 4) access to and from the commercial and office buildings will be improved.

Finally, this approach will achieve the throughput at Hanley and Eager roads that the county officials envisioned and it will minimize complaints from some that the money spent on the jug handle was too much for too little.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: We do still need to allow left turns from northbound Hanley to Musick Memorial Drive. There are businesses along this road and there is a MetroLink station with a parking garage. The left turn time will be shorter now because the new Hanley and Eager connection is open. The biggest thing we have noted is that people aren't aware the new Hanley to Eager connection is open so they are still sitting in that left turn lane. We hope people will get used to this and the left turns will reduce.

Linda Wilson

Cez Janikow: What is the deal with the curves? When the I-64 stretch in Chesterfield was completed, one of the curves, just eastbound of the Missouri bridge, turning left, it overshoots the curve and then you have to turn right to go straight. I thought that the painting crew got drunk when painting the dividing lines, until I saw the newly open I-64 stretch between 270 and 170, such "double dipping" is apparently even in the design of the concrete barrier now - you have to turn slight right at first to make a left turn as I recall. Is it the designer that was drinking on the job now, or what else this could be, I am a reasonable person but I cannot find any reasonable answer to this except that someone wanted to leave a mark on the highway and no one dared tell that guy (probably the boss) that this does not make any sense?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: I think you are talking about where the lanes shift slightly as the road curves. When we have a large median wall and a curve in the road, the lanes of the highway do shift slightly away from the wall to create a little more sight distance as you go around the wall. This is done on purpose and is not a mistake by the striper. On I-64, we do have this situation on eastbound 64 just east of the MO River bridge. We also have it eastbound 64 just east of Clayton/Warson. Again, this shift is to provide extra sight distance for the driver to see what is happening on the highway ahead of them around the curve of the wall.

Linda Wilson