ST. LOUIS - Traffic flow this morning was typical of a morning rush disrupted by the rainstorms.  Rush hour also shifted forward a half hour starting at 6 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m. as it has the last four mornings.

"Today we experienced our first bad weather rush period and traffic was affected by incidents and crashes, but was typical of a weather-related morning rush," said MoDOT District Engineer Ed Hassinger.  "Motorists need to watch their speed and obey speed limits.  We also want to encourage motorists to continue to shift their commute times to spread out the demand on the region's roads."

Rush Period: 

• Time = 6 a.m.- 9 a.m.
• Volumes peaked from 7 - 8:30 a.m. (30 minutes later than normal)

Summary of Trouble Spots:

·        Eastbound I-44 from Route 141 to Lindbergh had significant delays

·        Northbound I-270 from I-55 to Manchester had significant delays from 7 - 8:30 a.m.

• Route 141, lightning damaged the signals at I-44 and Route 141
• Significant delays both north and south of I-44, up to 30 minutes for northbound
• Signals repaired by 8:30 a.m. and should be functioning properly for evening
• Route 141 at I-64
• Signals changed after the problems with Monday's rush and today it flowed really well
• Travel times improved on:
• Eastbound Page, 7-7:30 a.m. peak,
• Eastbound Olive, 7-7:30 a.m. peak, signal changes were made Monday for traffic from I-270 to eastbound Olive and delays were decreased today
• Eastbound Manchester, 7-7:30 a.m. peak,
• Lindbergh travel times are still up 25%
• Northbound Lindbergh, 6:30-8 a.m. peak from I-44 to I-70, long delays at I-44
• East and westbound Clayton had significant delays at Lindbergh
• I-64 and I-270 exit to Ballas is having significant backup
• Increased signal timing for eastbound Manchester to northbound Brentwood to help traffic flow at this intersection

Incident Report:

·         Highway Patrol responded to 9 incidents

·         Major incidents on I-70 today:

o        Westbound I-70 at Grand, 6:15-7:50 a.m., all lanes closed

o        Eastbound I-70 at Mid Rivers from 7 - 7:20 a.m., right lane closed

o        Eastbound I-70 at Route 94 from 5:45 to 6:15 a.m., two left lanes closed

o        Eastbound I-70 at Lindbergh from 7:40 - 8:10 a.m., two left lanes closed

o        Eastbound I-70 at West Florissant from 8:15 - 8:45 a.m., left lane closed

o        Eastbound I-70 at O'Fallon Park from 6:30 - 7 a.m., left lane closed

Metro information:

• Ridership is a typical weekday.
• Metro pass sales are up 8 percent over the same period last year.  People are making a commitment to use Metro.
• MetroLink had power outage from 6:40 to 7:30 a.m. from Delmar to Forest Park, buses were used to transport passengers around the outage

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