ST. LOUIS - Wet, slippery roads and driver caution kept St. Louis roads congested for much of the afternoon on the second day of the I-64 switch of opening the west half and closing the east half. The evening rush period built up on freeways just before three p.m. and lasted until well after 6:15 p.m. The rush period for arterial traffic ran from around 4 to 6 p.m. Traffic volumes were lower, but although traffic flowed, slower moving traffic kept the roadways congested. The best routes continue to be Interstates 70 and 44.

People are starting to use local streets to avoid Forest Park Parkway, according to county officials.  These local streets were not built to handle the heavy traffic flow that is diverting from the parkway. Drivers are advised to use Page, Olive, Manchester and Clayton Roads as alternate routes for Forest Park Parkway. Of those, Olive is still being underused.

Page and Manchester have had some significant signal changes this evening, so travel times along those routes should improve.

Access to downtown is still good using I-44, and drivers can use Jefferson northbound in the morning commute.

MoDOT has been noticing a large number of trucks making u-turns on McKnight from westbound I-64 to eastbound I-64. Most likely this is due to trucks heading south on I-170 and not realizing they cannot go on I-64 eastbound anymore.

During times of inclement weather, such as today, travelers can get good information on road conditions by either surfing to www.modot.org/ and checking the Traveler Information Map or calling 5-1-1 from their cell phone or landline.

For more information on the I-64 project, visit www.thenewi64.org/, and for real-time traffic information, visit www.gatewayguide.com/.

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