May 16, 2012
Vol 14
July 13, 2011
No 20
Vol 13 No 28
The public is invited to I-70 Blanchette Bridge construction public meetings on May 24 and 30.
Prepare for Closure Information courtesy of MoDOT
IN this Issue
The $63 million rehabilitation of the westbound Interstate 70 Missouri River Bridge (Blanchette Bridge) will close and detour traffic starting November 2012. Additionally overnight and weekend closures will happen this summer at the Earth City Expressway interchange and at the bridge. MoDOT and Walsh Construction Company will host two public meetings to share these details and highlight alternate routes to help I-70 drivers get around. Two public meetings are scheduled – one in St. Charles and one in Maryland Heights. Both meetings will have the same information and the information will be available online. The St. Charles meeting will be held from 4 – 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 24 at Immanuel Lutheran Fellowship Hall, 115 S. Sixth Street. The Maryland Heights meeting will be held from 4 – 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 at the Maryland Heights Government Center in the Court Room, 11911 Dorsett Road. The westbound I-70 bridge over the Missouri River was built in the late 1950s. It is in serious need of major repairs. Major river crossings are designed to last 100 years with a major overall needed at 50 years. Without major repairs, the bridge will continue to fall into disrepair and emergency repairs will be required at more frequent intervals with longer traffic closures. These repairs will become increasingly more expensive. The westbound I-70 Blanchette Bridge includes a total of 23 spans. Of those, the main three spans over the Missouri River have the overhead steel truss. The rehabilitation of the Westbound I-70 Bridge will include: • Removal and replacement of the existing truss spans with new trusses.
Photo courtesy of MoDot Photos
• Replacement of the complete driving surface, edge barrier walls and all expansion joints • Elimination of the three spans nearest to the St. Louis County end and their conversion to roadway on embankment • Repair all remaining concrete substructure units including replacement of some parts • Complete replacement of the structural steel in the first nine spans of the bridge on the St. Charles County side • Repair of the structural steel components of the long girder spans and the truss spans • Repainting of all existing structural steel MoDOT closed the bike lane on the Route 370 Missouri River bridge in November 2011. The Route 370 bridge is restriped to add a fourth lane on 370 between Earth City Expressway and Route 94. The extra lane will help traffic during the closure of the westbound I-70 bridge. The fourth lane on Route 370 will be removed in 2014 and the bike lane will be restriped. During the closure, cyclists should use Route 364 Page Avenue to cross the Missouri River. Walsh Construction Company plans
Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Lincoln County Life . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
to close the westbound I-70 Blanchette Bridge and shift lanes to the eastbound bridge starting approximately the first weekend in November, weather permitting. Traffic will stay shifted all on the eastbound bridge for less than one year. During the construction, three lanes of eastbound and three lanes of west-
bound I-70 will be using the eastbound bridge. The two directions of traffic will be separated by a concrete barrier wall in the middle of the eastbound bridge. Lanes will be reduced to 11 feet wide with no shoulders. See CLOSURE page 4
MOVIE PEEK
School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Joe Morice / Sports . . . . . . . . . . . 10
See MOVIE page 9
“Dark Shadows” - Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Shelly Schneider / Recipe . . . . . . . . 11 What’s Happening . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 Pet Adoptions / Classifieds . . . . . 14-15
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