Tagged: Poplar Street Bridge

The East-West Gateway Council of Governments has signed off on a set of upgrades to the Poplar Street Bridge.

The improvements include a two-lane ramp from northbound I-55 and the addition of a fifth eastbound lane to the bridge.

Jim Wild is the Assistant Executive Director at East-West. He says the way the bridge is currently constructed leads to daily traffic backups.

"As you go eastbound on I-64, we drop from 3 lanes down to two lanes, and then it increases to 4 lanes over the bridge and that creates a choke point," Wild said.

People trying to get into downtown St. Louis this weekend will again have some traffic issues to deal with. 

For the second straight week, the Missouri Department of Transportation will shut down all westbound lanes of Interstate 64 from the Poplar Street Bridge to 21stStreet. In addition, the Broadway, 10thStreet and 14thStreet entrance ramps will also be shut down. MoDOT crews are still replacing the driving surface on the double-deck, elevated highway.

Illinois and Missouri officials appear to agree on a series of phased upgrades to the Poplar Street Bridge.

The plan would add a third eastbound I-64 lane over the bridge, as well as provide a two-lane onramp from northbound I-55.

MoDOT District Engineer Ed Hassinger says the $80 million in upgrades will go a long way toward smoothing the flow of traffic over the Mississippi.   

The Missouri Department of Transportation will be closing nearly all lanes of Interstate 64 leading on and off the Poplar Street Bridge Saturday.

Expect extra drive-time, says MoDOT engineer Deanna Venker, if you're driving over the Poplar Street Bridge this Saturday. Venker says all westbound and two eastbound lanes on I-64 will close between I-55 and Jefferson Ave.

"We are doing bridge deck repair, we will also be doing seismic retrofitting at the western edge of the bridge and we are replacing bearings on the eastern side of the bridge," Venker said.