Maybe transportation officials should have extended the reconstruction of Highway 40 a little further west.

The reopening of the highway in the western portion of St. Louis County on Monday — between I-170 and Ballas Road — meant a stress-free, wide-open stretch of road.

The only backups in the first hours after the five-mile stretch opened to traffic came in the eastbound lanes west of I-270 — an area not included in the rebuilding.

Gil Moore of Ballwin said he smiled all the way from I-270 to the Dierberg's in the Brentwood Pointe Shopping Center, near I-170 and Brentwood Boulevard, where he works as an assistant manager.

"For the last 11½ months I've had to take Manchester all the way in," Moore said. "I'm sorry, I know this is going to be rough for the people affected by the other half of the close-down, but I've done my time and now it's my turn."

Drivers reported wide open spaces on the rebuilt section of road, as if people didn't know it was open.

Even early morning snow, sleet and ice seemed to have little effect on traffic. Slush and wet pavement covered some of the newly opened eastbound lanes before dawn. But by the peak of rush hour at 7:30 a.m., much of the pavement had dried and eastbound traffic moved along at 55 to 60 mph.

Commuters in the evening rush also faced a relatively hassle-free drive.

"Traffic was extremely light on the new section," said Pete Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, "So there are a lot of people out there that are waiting to enjoy this piece of new roadway."

Those who did venture onto the roadway found new bridges and interchanges, new concrete, fewer dips and curves and newly added sound walls.

"Today was wonderful," said Edward Mahan, who lives in Rock Hill and works at St. John's Mercy Medical Center at New

Ballas Road and Highway 40.

During the shutdown, Mahan, 44, took back roads to and from work. Lights and traffic turned a 13-minute trip into a 30-minute hassle. He'd listen to music on his iPod to distract him.

On Monday, he left at 5 a.m. He entered the new westbound highway at McKnight Road and found himself nearly alone.

"It was like, boom, one straight shot," Mahan said.

As for the iPod? "I didn't even bother turning it on," he said.

But not everyone found themselves stress-free. Mahan's co-worker, Bryan Lankford, lives in O'Fallon, Ill. He faced a new problem Monday: trying to get to West County with the eastern half of Highway 40 now shut down.

He planned to exit at Forest Park Parkway, but somehow missed the exit. He instead went onto Kingshighway — and ended up in a neighborhood he wasn't familiar with. His trip to the hospital took 90 minutes.

"One wrong turn and you're lost in some back street of St. Louis somewhere," he said.

Elisa Crouch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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