By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – St. Louis-area transportation planners Wednesday approved a plan to upgrade Highway 40 in St. Louis County and city.
Workers will rebuild a dozen miles of the highway, including exit ramps and the interchange at I-170.
But Linda Wilson with the Missouri Department of Transportation says the bulldozers won't roll until 2007 at the earliest.
"What we will be doing right away is starting to talk to property owners that need we to start purchasing property from,". Wilson said. "In the environmental documents we had over 300 properties identified that we were going to need to buy. We ve already cut that number down a third.
The federal government is paying for about 80 percent of the half billion-dollar upgrade, with the rest of the money coming from the state.
The East-West Gateway Council of Governments must approve any local transportation projects that use federal funds.