ST. LOUIS – This week’s cold weather has once again delayed a scheduled traffic shift on Interstate 64/Interstate 55 bridge across the Mississippi River (the Poplar Street Bridge). The work impacting Illinois commuters should now start when temperatures rise next week.
On Monday, January 8, crews will close an additional eastbound lane across the Mississippi River starting at 8 p.m. Only one lane will be open across the river until 2 p.m. Tuesday, January 9. During the work, crews will be shifting barrier walls and restriping lanes. When the second lane reopens, the open lanes across the bridge will be shifted to the two middle lanes. The far right and far left lanes on the eastbound bridge will be closed.
On Tuesday, January 9, crews will once again close an additional eastbound lane on the bridge to install barrier wall along the far left lane, starting at 8 p.m. Only one lane will be open across the river. When the second lane reopens by 2 p.m. Wednesday, January 10, the far left lane on the eastbound bridge will remain closed around the clock until the end of December 2018.
On Wednesday, January 10, crews will close two westbound lanes across the bridge at 8 p.m. One lane will reopen by 5 a.m. Thursday January 11; at that time, the far left westbound lane across the bridge will remain closed until the end of December 2018.
When the traffic shifts are complete, one left lane on the westbound and eastbound lanes of the Poplar Street Bridge will be closed around the clock until December 2018. These lane closures will let crews prepare the bridge for a scheduled “slide” to widen the bridge in late March, and then will let crews construct and fill in the new eastbound lane for the bridge. In addition, one right lane will be closed around the clock on the eastbound PSB to let crews complete placing the new surface – that lane is projected to reopen sometime in February 2018.