By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A number of people turned out at Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School on Thursday to see MO-DOT's plans to rebuild 12 miles of I-64/Hwy. 40 in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
The plans are not new, just revised. MO-DOT's been working on the project for several years.
The plans presented Thursday show no major changes to what MO-DOT had long been planning to do between Spoede Road and Sarah Street. The document is called a Final EIS, which will be submitted to the federal government for approval.
Once that approval happens, MO-DOT will be able to start creating even more detailed plans and even start preparing for construction.
Officials say Thursday's meeting was as much about reminding people that the project is still going forward and will happen, once the agency finds money to pay for it.
At this time, the money is already secured to replace the interchange at Kingshighway with a new bridge, lights, and lanes. Money to fix the interchange at I-170 could be secure as early as this summer. Funding for the rest of the 12 mile stretch, though, still needs to be figured out.
Construction would not begin before 2008.