ST. LOUIS – Drivers who use I-44 downtown will need to find alternate routes or expect significant delays when the department closes both directions of the interstate September 23-26.
MoDOT will close both eastbound and westbound I-44 between the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge and the I-44/I-55 split south of 7th and Park, starting at 7 p.m. Friday, September 23. This portion of I-44 runs north and south, parallel to the Mississippi River. The ramps from I-44/I-55 to the eastbound I-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. All ramps are scheduled to be closed by 7 p.m. Friday, with all lanes in both directions of I-44 closed by 8 p.m.
Two construction crews will be working in the corridor. One will be placing girders on the Broadway Bridge over I-44 and the other will be removing girders from the Terminal Railroad Association-owned MacArthur Bridge over the interstate. 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 two major projects to minimize number of full closures needed. 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 on the same weekend, 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,” said Jen Wade, MoDOT area engineer for the city of St. Louis.
Detours will be marked, and will mostly use Tucker, Jefferson and portions of Broadway. All lanes and ramps are projected to reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, September 26.
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