Ask the Road Crew
Warm weather, then cold weather means it's time for potholes, and pothole repairs; get ready for construction slowdowns. Ask our Road Crew all your questions about getting around with experts from MoDOT, St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County to get you answers. Join the chat on Wednesday, April 3, at 1 p.m.
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Andrew — I know the answer is going to be the funds aren’t available but 141 SB from 64 is brutal around rush hour. Borderline backs up onto the highway. With a decent size off ramp before it runs parallel to 141 has there ever been a thought of carving out a relief exit a la West County Mall exit off the Manchester road eastbound exit from 270?
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We are doing some preliminary studies on the Route 141 and I-64 interchange to determine what options we may have. Since both roads are very heavily traveled it can be tricky to address one problem without creating additional issues. Once we have something determined, we will look for funding for it. Andrew Gates, MODOT Communications
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I believe that is for the Great Rivers Greenway trail extension project. You can see more here: https://greatriversgreenway.org/construction-on-long-awaited-connection-between-gravois-greenway-grants-trail-and-the-river-des-peres-greenway-begins-december-10-2018/. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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We do anticipate the bridge construction between Kingshighway and 39th Street to be complete this year, although there will be some resurfacing between Kingshighway and 39th next spring to wrap up the project. The resurfacing impacts should be mostly at night. The I-44 at Jefferson project is scheduled to start in spring 2020 Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Andrew, my wife noticed turning onto 141 southbound from Vance Road, there aren't any signs indicating the right lane is an exit only lane (to Eastbound I-44) until you get to the flyover part of the ramp. Are there signs further up 141 indicating to drivers that the right lane is EXIT ONLY? We still see a lot of people turn out of that lane and perhaps there isn't adequate signage for people that don't drive it regularly or people from out of town. Thanks!
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There are signs further north that the lane is for eastbound I-44, but any exit only signs have to be after the Elam intersection, since technically the lane isn't exit only until that point (you could turn onto or off Elam, or make the exit). We do have some striping updates that will come after this year's resurfacing that may help improve traffic flow there. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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The choke point is traffic queuing up trying to get from EB I-44 to SB I-55 in the afternoon and a significant increase from Jefferson trying to access either I-44 EB or I-55 SB across that interstate to interstate single ramp connection. We just looked at daily numbers on I-55 and they have grown 12% in the past year on the I-55 corridor from I-44 to Germania. The hourly numbers drastically increase between 2 and 3 p.m. and continue to almost double per hour overloading the I-55 corridor until levels drop off between 6-7 p.m. We are considering dual left turn lanes on southbound Jefferson to eastbound I-44 and then we drop to a single ramp lane when it merges into the highway as a part of the project. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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David — I know it’s getting a new surface so the want to waste money on it is very limited but Clayton road potholes are getting bad again especially west of Brentwood. Could you send a crew down the stretch again? While I’m the topic when are they going to start on the pavement work?
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This year, we have bridge painting at the I-270 and Route 370 interchange, and we have work near 94 starts in mid-April. The work around Route 94 is mainly bridge rehabilitation (and will have some pretty significant lane closures) and will last most of this year. Next year, we have pavement resurfacing between I-270 and the Missouri River. Andrew Gates, MoDOT communications
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Do you have some specific locations? I can pass it along to our team -- 370 is about 8 miles in each direction between I-270 and the Missouri River. As a note, we regularly fill potholes when we 1) notice them or 2) someone reports them. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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What is the logic on putting the cable barriers along the highway just off the passing lane, like they recently did on Hwy 54 (Kingdom City to Jeff City) verses down the middle of the median along 70? By putting them along the shoulder with the reflectors on the posts and the headlights from cars going the opposite direction it's almost blinding.
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Right now, we are still on track to get the eastbound bridge completed and opened to traffic in mid-summer. Between now and then, our contractor team is working on the updated repairs for the westbound bridge, and we are anticipating those repairs will be complete by mid-fall. After that, we have to put a final layer of pavement on the roadway, so we are expecting this to be complete by December. The work at I-270 and I-44 is some ramp relocation and adjustments as part of the Meramec River Bridge project just to the west. In addition, we have some work on the westbound Watson Road bridge to WB I-44 and NB/SB I-270 that starts after Memorial Day. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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For 370, Honestly, its the whole thing.
Worst offenses are rightmost-lane WB between Earth City Expwy and MO River, 2 left lanes WB immediately past (w/in 1 mile) the on-ramp from the Mills/Outlet Mall.
Additionally, On-ramp from 270 NB is very very rough. I've reported all of these specific locations several times. -
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Dave asked me to share some information on striping on Big Bend -- that was actually a part of some resurfacing that MoDOT did last year. Weather got in the way and we weren't able to get permanent stripes down. That should be completed this week. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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I know I’m getting ahead of myself but with all the talk today about the Jefferson Bridge replacement... Will the ramp to westbound I-44 be open during the construction?
Also, what is the current detour for getting on 44 westbound at Grand since it is currently closed. -
At this point, we haven't finalized what traffic control on that project, though we try, where possible, to keep roads as open as possible. The posted detour for Grand is to take eastbound I-44 to Jefferson and loop onto westbound I-44. Of course, people who drive this regularly probably have their own alternate routes as well. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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water pooling near the big bend exit going west caused 3 different accidents on saturday alone. I have seen 2 other as well. Its near the end of the new concrete guardrail on the far side. If you look you can even see parts of vehicles damaged in those accidents on the sides of the roads. drainage is inadequete
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This may have been mentioned before, but I just wanted to thank whichever agency is responsible for replacing the signals at River des Peres and Gravois. I drove through this area about two weeks ago and it took about five minutes less than I am used to. Thank you!
I do have one other question, though. This likely will be for MoDOT. A few months ago I reported on the website that the traffic detection at Tesson Ferry and Baptist Church in South County needs examination. The lights cycle for non-existent traffic on Baptist Church, and a green arrow is always given at the beginning of the cycle for traffic turning left into the parking lot of Plaza 21 on southbound Tesson Ferry, regardless of anyone in the left turn lane. Could this be looked at again? -
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