ST. CHARLES • Painters packed up their sprayers and laborers dragged away the last barrels. The race was on.

During the first week of September 1958, workers opened the four lanes of the new Missouri River bridge in phases. The bridge replaced a 19th-century span downriver that was overwhelmed by 16,000 vehicles daily. The new bridge opened the way for migration into St. Charles County.

At $8.5 million, the bridge was a key part of the Mark Twain Expressway, later called Interstate 70. The 24-mile, $97 million Mark Twain, from downtown into St. Charles, was the first spoke in the pinwheel of today's regional system of superhighways.

At the bridge dedication, U.S. Rep. Clarence Cannon of Elsberry loftily praised it as promoting 'safe and swift transportation and the increased happiness of every citizen." What it needed was better connections.

To its west ran two miles of highway that is historic as the first piece of America's interstate network. Eastward ran four lanes to Lindbergh Boulevard. The rest of the route was a hodgepodge of demolition, condemnation cases and patches of new concrete.

After World War II, the state Highway Commission called for three highways running from downtown — Mark Twain north, Daniel Boone (U.S. 40) west and Ozark (Interstate 55) south. Interstate 44 would come later.

In 1954, St. Louis Alderman Leo McLaughlin pleaded, "People who have had their homes for 40 years must be given consideration." He was drowned by the clamor for quicker commutes.

The expressways were to meet downtown at the new Third Street Highway, a cutoff running from the future Arch grounds to Gravois Avenue. In March 1955, work began on the St. Charles bridge. Nine months later, wreckers demolished downtown's old Produce Row, at Fourth Street and Delmar Boulevard.

Clearing land was easy in St. Louis County. Not so on the city's north side, where some buildings predated the Civil War. Homes were auctioned for salvage for as little as $35.

One year later, $34 million in work was under way. Pavement from Kingshighway to Jennings Station Road opened in September 1958. The first piece from downtown followed in March 1959. The St. Louis County route was finished later that year.

On July 28, 1961, a ribbon-cutting opened the last four-mile stretch, from near Salisbury Street to west of Kingshighway. Two months later, daily traffic at the Lucas & Hunt Road interchange was 78,319 vehicles, higher than the state's forecast for 1980.

In 1958, St. Charles County had 53,000 residents. Today, 355,000 people call it home. Missouri finished I-70 to Kansas City in 1965 and opened a second bridge parallel to the Mark Twain span in 1979. More than 150,000 vehicles cross them each day.

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Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series.