ST. LOUIS — Drivers who use Interstates 44 and 55 downtown will need to find alternate routes or expect significant delays this weekend. The Missouri Department of Transportation will close both directions of the interstates for 16 hours.
Railroad crews will be working on a railroad bridge over the interstate, while MoDOT crews will be completing additional work in the closed section of the interstate. The work is scheduled around various activities and concerts in the downtown area.
Starting at 11 p.m. Friday, crews will close both eastbound and westbound I-44 and north and southbound I-55 between the Poplar Street Bridge and 7th and Park.
At the same time, crews will close the ramps from eastbound I-44/northbound I-55 to eastbound Interstate 64, and the ramp from westbound I-64 to westbound I-44/southbound I-55 will also be closed at the Mississippi River near the Poplar Street Bridge.
Crews will start work on the westbound I-64 ramp to westbound I-44/southbound I-55 to allow traffic from a concert downtown to exit. That ramp should reopen by 6 a.m. Saturday November 4. The interstate needs to be closed for safety and to allow equipment to operate.
'We know that any weekend in St. Louis is busy, and we have worked hard to coordinate these efforts to minimize number of full closures needed," said Jen Wade, MoDOT engineer for the city of St. Louis. "While the interstate is closed, we will also have highway maintenance teams completing pavement smoothing and sweeping, drain cleaning, lighting maintenance and other tasks within the corridor. By lining all these critical tasks up at the same time, we can reduce the number of days this area is impacted. We are working with the organizers of the events scheduled for this weekend to help make sure their attendees are aware of the best routes to enter and exit the events during this closure."
Detours will be marked and will mostly use Tucker, Chouteau, 4th Street and portions of Broadway. All lanes and ramps are projected to reopen by 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4.
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