ST. LOUIS -  Evening rush on the first day of the I-64 closure continued to be lighter than normal on the interstates with the evening peak beginning 30 minutes to an hour sooner than normal.  In general the interstates worked very well with speeds averaging at or above 45 mph throughout the region.  The non-interstate roads were more congested.

"Our best piece of advice to motorists is to use the interstates as much as possible. The interstates flowed much better than the other major roads tonight.  We are very pleased with traffic flow on the first day of the closure," said MoDOT Assistant District Engineer Tom Blair.  "On some of the smaller streets, we are continuing to monitor the changing traffic patterns and make adjustments."

One of those locations was the intersection of southbound I-170 at Eager Road.  To address the lengthy backups at this signal, St. Louis County has changed the signal timing to favor southbound I-170 to Eager Road traffic.  Also, left turns will not be allowed from eastbound Eager Road to northbound I-170.  Therefore, motorists on Brentwood Blvd should take Brentwood to Galleria Parkway to get to northbound I-170.  Message boards were placed on Brentwood Blvd to advise of this change.

Another spot where MoDOT engineers observed confusion with motorists was on the newly restriped ramp from eastbound I-64 to northbound I-270.  The ramp has been changed so the traffic from eastbound I-64 to northbound I-270 has two lanes.  The ramp from Ballas Road to northbound I-270 now has to merge into the lanes coming from eastbound I-64.  The ramp from eastbound I-64 to northbound I-270 becomes a lane of northbound I-270 instead of an exit-only lane to Ladue Road.

Rush Period:  Time = 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (earlier than normal)

Summary of Trouble Spots:

• Southbound I-170 to Eager.
  Changes were made to signal timing at this intersection.
• Eastbound I-64 to Hanley southbound. 
  Changes were made to the signal timing during the morning to help traffic flow.
  Motorists are encouraged to use Brentwood Blvd instead of Hanley.
  
• Westbound Page Avenue travel times nearly doubled from I-170 to I-270, going from 10 minutes to 19 minutes.  Signal times were adjusted at some intersections during the rush to improve this.
• Several signals at intersections in Creve Coeur, Frontenac and Town & Country were not working due to a transformer blowing at Ballas and Conway.  The power outages made traffic flow worse on Ladue and Clayton roads.  Ameren restored power quickly and the signals were back on during the rush period.

Maintenance repairs:

• Pothole repairs at various locations on I-44, on I-55 at I-44 and on northbound I-270 between Conway and Ladue tonight between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Incident report:

• Four incidents during the evening rush, three had road blockages with injuries
• 40 cars were towed off the interstates today

Metro information:

• Ridership was typical of a day following a holiday

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

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