No Access to I-170 From Eager... Soon

After numerous complaints that the Eager Road / I-170 ramp was a head-on collision waiting to happen, Gateway contractors will be eliminating access to I-170 from Eager Road. Starting next week, if you are on Eager Road, you have to go to Brentwood Blvd and then north to the Galleria Parkway on-ramp, to access I-170.

This has been my only sore spot with the whole project and I'm very happy to see that they've come to their senses and will be making this an exit for south bound I-170 only.

With this closure, they should be able to place some concrete barricades between south bound and north bound I-170 traffic.

Diggers, Diggers, Everywhere!

Yesterday, I surveyed the construction zone between Clayton/Warson Rd and Brentwood Blvd. I couldn't believe the amount of equipment doing work through out that 3 mile stretch of I-64.

Three weeks into the project and they have already torn down 3 overpasses, removed most if not all of the hillside for the fly-over ramp at I-170 and torn up nearly all of the old pavement that was I-64.

Further west, a half mile of highway was littered with rows of storm sewer pipe waiting to be installed. There is a lot of infrastructure work like this, that needs to be done before grading for the roadbed can even begin.

There is still over 11 months to go, but they seem to be off to a fast start. Let's hope the weather holds out this spring and summer so they can finish this portion of the highway rebuild early.

MODOT 2.0

It seems like the folks over at MODOT have really embraced this whole technology thing. They've also become quite media savvy with their daily briefings on the day's commute and their weekly online question and answer sessions at the Post Dispatch's website, (occurs every wednesday from 2 - 3 pm.)

My wife thought it would be a good idea if MODOT kept up the traffic web cams along the closed I-64, just so that people could see what was happening. Low and behold, it looks like MODOT is doing just that!

It's nice when a government agency "gets it." And that "it" is that most people are quite understanding, as long as you keep them updated as to what is going on and listen to them when they have a legitimate gripe.

The willingness for MODOT and Gateway Constructors to keep the general public informed has really seemed to have defused what could have a public relations nightmare.

McKnight Rd Closed

As of 7 AM on Monday morning, the McKnight Road overpass was closed to traffic for 6 months. McKnight came down with little fanfair, save for the occassional resident of the York Hills subdivision that made the trek up to Northcote Rd to watch it's demise.

As of Wednesday, all that remained were the footings on the north and south ends of what used to be the overpass. If McKnight was on your route to get from point "A" to point "B", might I suggest Brentwood Blvd.



Now before you wince in pain at the thought of driving on Brentwood between Eager and Clayton Roads, it has gotten much easier since there is not traffic waiting to get onto I-64. Give it a try sometime, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Eager to I-170 Open

The St Louis County Highway Department has decided to allow motorists access to I-170 from eastbound Eager Rd. There apparently is still some confusion due to a few cones being left in place.

Demo Work In Brentwood Part 2

I take back most of what I said earlier about Brentwood Blvd only being closed for this weekend.

Around noon today I wandered up to the top floor of the parking garage at 1401 S. Brentwood Blvd, to take some photos of the demolition. Even though they have taken down a lot of the overpass in the past 18 hours, I can't seen how they will be able to get all of it torn down and removed by Monday morning.

I would imagine that these are the same crews that will be tearing down the McKnight Road overpass on Monday morning. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

McKnight Overpass Closes Monday

Wow, this whole demolition thing is moving right along. No sooner does the highway get taken down at Brentwood Blvd, now the McKnight overpass will fall. The McKnight overpass will close at 7 AM, Monday morning and stay closed for the next six months.

I hope they can keep up this pace with all of the rebuild. Sure would be nice if they could reopen the Interstate in September or October! I know I'm being a tad bit optimistic, but a guy can dream.

Get those maps out kids, its time to start finding some alternate ways around!

Demo Work In Brentwood

With Brentwood Blvd shut down, Gateway Constructors began the demolition of the I-64 overpass last night. Work is moving along at a brisk pace, with most of the eastbound overpass already down and removed by Saturday morning.

I've heard conflicting reports that Brentwood is supposed to be shut down this weekend as well as next weekend, but at the rate they are going, one weekend should be enough.

Traffic seemed to be flowing well, around the area. McCutcheon is open as a detour around Brentwood Blvd. I'd also suggest taking Eager Rd to Hanley Rd, but traffic will be heavier on this route.

Brentwood Blvd Shut Down

Both directions of Brentwood Blvd will be shutting down this weekend for the demolition of I-64 over Brentwood Blvd. Brentwood Blvd will be closed from 10 PM Friday January 11th until 5:30 AM Monday January 14th.

Remember, you will not be able to get onto northbound I-170 from eastbound eager Rd. One possible alternate route is to take Eager Rd west of Brentwood Blvd (past Border's Books and Brentwood Square,) to McCutcheon Rd. Make a right turn on McCutcheon Rd and take that all the way up to Clayton Rd. Then make a right turn on Clayton Rd to Brentwood Blvd. Make a right turn onto Brentwood Blvd to the Galleria Parkway. Turn left on the Galleria parkway to north bound I-170. See the map below for further detail.

This detour is only 1.8 miles, so quit your complaining, it could be alot worse. :)

Eager Road Exit Mess

"Wow, I'm driving into 3 lanes of oncoming traffic and I'm going to die!"

That's the feeling you get when you leave the safety of south bound I-170 and face three lanes of oncoming traffic, head on, with only a double yellow line separating you and them. Not exactly the feeling you want when traveling 40+ mph.

The feeling doesn't improve much once you actually get to Eager Road. There is a quick elevation change right before the intersection and the pavement is cobbled together horribly. It felt as though I was off-roading. I wasn't sure I was even in the right place, like maybe I took a wrong turn.

MODOT is supposed to put up some "raised pavement markers" where the double yellow lines now lie. I hope they are of the three foot high variety, to give more of a sense of separation between south bound and north bound lanes. Maybe we could also spring for a bit of pavement smoothing at Eager Road too.



Fox 2 NewS report: I-170 Drivers Confused

Goin' Faster In The Slow Lane

Just a quick little tip to keep you moving along on Manchester Road. Due to a lack of a center turn lane along most of Manchester between Hanley and I-270, it is actually faster to stay in the right hand "slow lane" and avoid all those people making left turns.

Don't forget that the speed limit on Manchester drops from 35 mph to 30 mph when you enter Rock Hill (just east of the Warson Woods Dierbergs.) That might not seem like a lot, but if you're already traveling 5 mph over the speed limit, it could mean the difference between a warning and a ticket.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but having the lights synced along Manchester Road does really seem to help with the flow of traffic. This begs the question, "Why didn't MODOT do this sooner?"

Spoede Worn Out

Just in case any of you doubters thought that MODOT could have held off rebuilding the Interstate for a few years, take a look at these photos of the Spoede Road overpass. This bridge is literally crumbling beneath our tires.


Built in 1937, this 71 year old overpass is in desparate need of replacement. The bridge was built when Highway 40 was a boulevard, not an interstate highway. The 45 mph speed limits have given way to speeds of 60-70+ mph and these structures weren't designed to handle today's traffic loads and high speeds.

MODOT has rung every last year they could out of these bridges and it's high time that they get replaced.

Monday Morning Not So Bad

I left the house this morning at 5:30 AM and took I-70 east to I-170 south and exited at Brentwood Blvd. The drive took 40 minutes and traffic seemed only marginally heavier than normal.

It was so warm this morning that I had to put the top down. I just couldn't pass up the chance to drive in to work, in January, sans roof.

My boss was not so lucky. He left Lake St Louis at 5:15 AM and took I-64 to I-270 to Manchester Road. He said Manchester was very slow and heavy. He's considering a different way in to work.

Busy Sunday Morning

This morning I awoke to find the temp had already climbed into the low 60's. Not being a person to waste such a beautiful day, I put the top down and drove eastward to check out the progress of the Lindbergh overpass tear down.

I was greeted by a bee-hive of activity around what little that was left of the overpass. A group of construction workers were huddled atop of the interstate, while dump trucks were being filled with debris below. At the current pace of the demolition, I would expect them to open Lindbergh early Sunday evening.

The demolition activity has also brought with it many site-seers, gawkers and picture takers (myself included). The upper-crust patrons of the local Schnuck's store looked none too happy having to deal with the previously mentioned gawkers.


Driving further east on Clayton Road, I noticed a group of workers under the Clayton/Warson overpass digging something up out of the creek bed. I also found large piles of dirt and sewer pipes littering the highway next to L'Ecole Culinaire School.

All in all quite a busy Sunday on the old I-64.

Dropped Ball Quickly Picked Up

Early Thursday morning the St Louis County Highway Department decided to shut down the left turn lane from eastbound Eager Road onto northbound I-170. It's all part of MODOT's tweaking process to make traffic flow better.

They really dropped the ball on the morning rush hour, with only a couple of cones and a small sign that said that the left turn lane was closed (not that it was now illegal to make the left turn). The Brentwood Police quickly became aware of the problem, dispatched officers to the area to reroute traffic (see KSDK report).

Phone calls were made between the Police and the Highway Department and by 10 AM, St Louis County Highway Department had all kinds of signage directing drivers up to the Galleria Parkway onramp.


All in all, not a bad response time for the Highway Department. It just would have been a whole lot easier on motorists if the Highway Department would have put the correct signage up in the first place.

The Cost Of Progress

This section of I-64 was built in the late 1930's. During the original construction, builders were able to include many small details that elevated these public works projects to what some might consider works of art.

Sadly the "lowest bidder" mentality of our politicians and the need for standardized infrastructure will eliminate much of the charm these old structures hold. So much for progress...

East End Construction Activity

Around noon today I took a self-guided tour through the east end of the I-64 construction area. Let me begin by saying I did not trespass into the construction zone. I stayed on the sidewalks of the McCutcheon and McKnight overpasses.
I would like to warn anyone reading this, DO NOT go onto the closed section of the highway or the bordering green space. This is an active construction site with lots of trucks and heavy equipment moving about. It is very dangerous area, you could get injured or killed.

With that said, things are moving right along on the east end of the construction zone. Just east of McCutcheon, a group of large bulldozers and loaders were removing an entire hillside. Semi sized dump trucks were lined up to remove the dirt. This is all prep work for the new fly over ramp from I-64 to I-170.

On the west side of McKnight, workers were busy removing the on-ramp from McKnight to westbound I-64. Tree trimming crews also dotted the area adjacent site, trimming back limbs.

I plan to take a tour of the central and western sections of the I-64 construction zone this weekend. Hopefully I can get some photos of the Lindbergh overpass being torn down.

Metro-Link Dreamin'

As I was leaning over the sink, eating my cereal this morning, I began to think of how much sense it would make to start a westward expansion of Metro-Link during the I-64 shut down. Now I know we're a few hundred million dollars short of funding, but bear with me.
While this section of the highway is shut down, add a raised Metro-Link track down the center of I-64. You wouldn't have to install all of the electrical wiring, just get basic support structure. This would reduce the amount of time that the lanes of I-64 would have be to shut down in the future.

Stops could be placed at Boone's Crossing, Chesterfield Mall, Maryville University and Missouri Baptist / St John's Hospitals as well as two or three additional stations near the many "assisted living facilities" along I-64. This would have the additional benefit of providing transportation for many of their employees. The Eager Road Metro-Link station in Brentwood could be expanded to accommodate this westward route.

Pie in the sky thinking? Absolutely, but doesn't this appear to be the best time to undertake a project like this? Too bad it will never happen. Because we're only a few hundred million dollars away from a much easier commute...

Manchester Rd At Evening Rush-Hour

When I got off work tonight (just after 6pm), I decided to experiment a bit and took Manchester from Hanley to I-270. I knew it wouldn't be the fastest, but I wanted to know how long it would take should I have to use it. So being the gadget lover that I am, I popped the gps unit on the dash and recorded my average speed during the commute home.

The gps recorded an average of 25 mph on the 6.2 miles of Manchester Road between Hanley and I-270, with an elapsed time of 14 minutes and 39 seconds. Traffic was fairly heavy, but moving. I got stuck at 4 red lights during my journey on Manchester Road, which I found to be quite acceptable, considering the volume of traffic. I'd like to tip my cap to MODOT for doing a good job of syncing the lights.

The rest of the commute progressed at a much faster pace. I averaged 63 mph on the 17.7 miles of I-270 and I-64 I traveled. As a side note, I did find I-64 to suprisingly busy. It wasn't packed, but I had fully expected I-64 to be a virtual ghost town from at least I-270 to 141, but that was not the case.

A little about us

My wife and I are in our mid-30’s, we live in central St Charles County and both commute to the Brentwood / Clayton / Richmond Heights area for work. She is strictly a Monday-Friday, 9-5 gal; while I rotate all three shifts and work week-ends / holidays. We were diehard I-64 aficionados before the closure. Between the two us, we’ll try relate our daily commuting experience and try to give a bit of helpful advice to make everyone’s life a bit easier.

We also hope to add a few photos every week of the I-64 construction. It should be interesting to see how the construction progresses. We're always interested in hearing from other people about their points of view on the construction and how the closure is affecting their commute. Feel free to shoot us an email.