ST. LOUIS – Residents who use I-55 between Virginia and River Des Peres should be prepared for new traffic patterns, starting next week, after MoDOT shifts all interstate traffic from the southbound lanes to the northbound lanes in two stages.
Crews will move two lanes of northbound traffic back to the northbound side, starting Thursday, May 29 after morning rush. Drivers will continue to have two through lanes in each direction between Virginia and River Des Peres while crews restripe lanes and place barrier. About a week later, Monday, June 2, two lanes of southbound traffic will shift to share the northbound side of the interstate. Northbound and southbound drivers will continue with two through lanes on the northbound side of the interstate through this portion of the work.
After the shift, crews will start rehabilitating the last two bridges (out of 26) on the project: the southbound I-55 bridges over the Union Pacific tracks and Koeln Avenue.
For southbound traffic, the ramps from I-55 to Loughborough and Germania and the ramps from Virginia and Loughborough to I-55 will be closed. For northbound traffic, the ramp from Germania to I-55 will remain closed. The ramps between northbound I-55 and Loughborough will reopen for the remainder of the project.
This work is part of a $63 million project to rehabilitate 13 pairs of bridges along I-55 in the city of St. Louis. KCI was awarded the project as prime contractor in spring 2022. Portions of the work on northbound I-55 were put on hold after a subcontractor damaged girders on the northbound bridge over the Union Pacific railroad tracks in October 2023. New girders had to be designed, ordered and installed and then the original rehabilitation had to be completed before traffic could move back on those lanes. The prime contractor continues to be responsible for all additional costs due to the damaged girders.
Although the contract completion date is May 29, 2025., the project enters the final stage of the bridge work with this upcoming switch. The bridge rehabilitation project is expected to be complete late this year or in early 2026.
“The contractor is required to pay damages for missing certain milestones where roads should be opened,” said Tom Blair, P.E., MoDOT St. Louis district engineer. “The contractor has a vested interest in ensuring work is complete to minimize those damages. Our main focus, right now, remains getting the construction completed and lanes reopened to traffic. When that is complete, the department will determine damages due to the delays.
Resurfacing I-55 between I-44 and Lindbergh is currently underway. Crews will focus on the areas where bridge rehabilitation is completed. The resurfacing work continues with mostly overnight or weekend lane closures and will be complete by summer 2026.
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