Allen: Why does the plan for the new I70 bridge over the Mississippi include building an offramp to downtown before building an offramp to southbound I70/55/44? The current offramp to I55/44 when heading west on the PSB is backed up nearly all times of the day, often well into Illinois, and is prone to accidents (eg the recent overturned semi). Also, if the downtown offramp is heavily used, won't the inevitable traffic backup resulting from the cars stopping at the bottom of the ramp cause problems on the I70 bridge? Or, if it will not be heavily used, why build it first? Not to mention the fact that PSB, Eads and MLK all already provide access to downtown.

I realize that both ramps are planned, but given the difficulty finding money to fund projects it seems that building the southbound offramp to I70/55/44 on the new bridge before a downtown offramp would solve the bigger problem first and provide the greatest immediate benefit to improve safety and traffic flow.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: The issue is completely with the available funding. You are right that the rest of the plan for the new Mississippi River bridge includes additional ramps to go south on the interstate at the bridge and improvements to the ramp system at the Missouri end of the Poplar Street bridge. There simply isn't enough money available right now to do it all. Step one is to get I-70 off the Poplar Street bridge and provide another option to getting traffic into downtown. The new bridge plan will do that. Once I-70 is off the Poplar Street bridge, then MoDOT can do a future project to redo the ramp system, remove the I-70 ramps and make a new ramp to southbound I-55 from the Poplar Street bridge. The current funded project will handle the traffic for I-70 across the river and onto westbound I-70 or to the city streets for access into downtown.

Linda Wilson

b: During the second phase of the project what kind of access will there be to Eager Rd from 40 & 170 (concerns are mainly about the Brentwood Metrolink station as I imagine ridership will increase as an alternative to the highway) and do you expect the area to be as congested as it is currently?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: Sometime this fall, we will be able to reopen the access from Eager to northbound I-170. So from that point forward through the construction during 2009, you will be able to take I-170 both north and south with access at Eager Road.

Linda Wilson

Jake: Not having driven by Lindbergh recently, what's the status/progress being made at that interchange? Any ideas when it will be finished?

Also, what's the progress at the Clayton/Warson bridge? When will the bridge deck be poured?

Thanks and keep posting pictures!

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: We're currently doing a lot of curb, gutter and sidewalk paving all along Lindbergh, as well as doing earthwork for the future entrance and exit ramps. There is also a large fill operation occurring to the east of Lindbergh toward Clayton-Warson that will eliminate a dip in the road. The Lindbergh interchange will open with the rest of the west half. Clayton-Warson is progressing well, with all the decking in place crews are currently installing reinforcing steel. We should be pouring the first half of the bridge (the westbound lanes) during the first week of August.

Dan

Kurtis: What are the plans for configuring the Kingshighway Interchange when the eastern half closes to maximize traffic flow? One such measure would be to configure the interchange such that SB Kingshighway through traffic would not have to stop with WB I-64 to SB Kingshighway traffic making a left into a dedicated lane on Kingshighway that is protected from the through traffic for a short distance.

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: The Kingshighway interchange will be completed at that point with three lanes going north and south, and obviously with the west side ramps closed. Traffic signal timing will be adjusted to reflect the lack of traffic coming from or going to the west. There should be enough room to accommodate all the traffic in that area.

We would recommend that drivers not make Kingshighway their main exit unless they are going somewhere on Kingshighway or to Forest Park. Through traffic coming from downtown should get on I-44 or I-70 to get past the closed part of I-64.

Dan

JeffS: What is the plan for the extra lanes that have been added to I-70 and I-44 to accommodate the Hwy-40 expansion. A large portion of the added lanes on I-70 are dangerous, rough, and unfinished to say the least. Are these lanes going to be left as-is until the completion of the Hwy-40 project? Are they going to be removed afterwards?

Dan Galvin and Linda Wilson: Our maintenance crews are monitoring I-70 and will patch places as needed. When the I-64 project is complete, we will resurface I-70 and I-44 and restripe them back to their normal lanes.

Linda Wilson