ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Major changes are underway all over north St. Louis County. MoDOT’S $278-million I-270 North Corridor Project touches many lives – east to west – on an 8-mile trek of interstate.
5 On Your Side talked with Justin Wolf, the director of the project, while on a tour of a bridge under construction over New Florissant Road.
“Earlier this year we demolished a portion of the existing bridge and we are building new structures both north and south of that bridge,” Wolf said.
It’s just a fraction of the new construction along the I-270 North Corridor Project. A map view is perhaps the best way to take it in, and MoDOT has no shortage of maps on the walls of their I-270 North Project office in Hazelwood. In fact, those maps stretch for more than 25 feet.
“The western-most portion of the project is west of Lindbergh,” said Wolf. “The key thing is we’re going to be adding an additional lane eastbound and westbound from Lindbergh all the way to Route 367. Eastbound 270 will have a dual lane ramp to connect them directly to Route 367.”
That means the project will cross seven north-south interchanges, including Lindbergh, I-170, New Florissant, West Florissant, Halls Ferry, Highway 367 and Bellefontaine Road.
Randy Hunter, owner of Dent KO, temporarily located behind construction cones at Dunn Road and I-270, believes all this will result in better access.
“I think it will,” said Hunter. “Especially when they finish New Florissant there, when people can turn around easily, with it being one-way. I think that will be good.”
The I-270 North Corridor Project is not all road construction and right-of-way. MODOT also paid attention to some of the softer features.
“When the interstate was first constructed in the 1960s, not much thought was given to people who don’t have cars,” Wolf said. “So, we viewed this as an opportunity to prevent 270 from being a block from going north and south into north St. Louis County.”
Again, Wolf referred to a map.
“Right here we show a typical section, a cross-section of Pershall Road. You can see we have a curb and gutter and green space,” he said.
Then Wolf took a 5 On Your Side reporter to that spot along the interstate.
“Right now, we are along Pershall Road near Washington-Elizabeth,” he explained. “You can see we have our multi-use trail, separated by a curb and gutter and green space, and it’s an eight-foot-wide path.”
MODOT officials said 140,000 vehicles per day travel on I-270. Fifty-thousand vehicles per day travel on Route 367. MODOT’S goal is for the I-270 North Corridor Project to be finished by December of 2023.