Very few construction projects are finished early and arrive under budget. To the surprise of many citizens, the Interstate 64/Hwy. 40 construction project is $11 million under budget and will be completed 24 days early.
During the past two years, residents in the St. Louis area have found clever ways to arrive at their destinations with the closure of nine miles of I-64. The interstate section from McCausland to downtown St. Louis was officially named the Jack Buck Memorial Highway.

After months of construction, the east half of Interstate 64 from I-170 to Kingshighway will reopen nearly a month early on Dec. 7, 2009. The highway was originally scheduled to open on Dec. 31, 2009. The construction crews are now finishing the final sections of the highway.
“The project is nearing completion,” said Dan Galvin, Public Information Manager of Gateway Constructors. “We have the entire mainline pavement in place and are now filling in the smaller pieces like shoulders, ramps and medians.”
CHS math teacher Anne Etling had to change her route to work due to the closure of I-64.
“I live off of 44 and Vandeventer near Tower Grove Park,” Etling said. “Before the Hwy. 40 construction, my route to work was pretty quick and simple. I would take Vandeventer to 40 west to 170 north to Ladue Road. My commute was around 10 minutes. When Hwy. 40 closed from 170 to Kingshighway, I had to find a new route.”
Due to the large number of traffic congestions, Etling had to find different travel routes for her morning and evening drives home.
“There are two different routes that I take,” Etling said. “In the morning, I take Vandeventer to Forest Park Parkway straight into Clayton. It is a straightforward route, but Forest Park Parkway has several stoplights that slow the commute. It now takes me 15 to 20 minutes to get to work. In the afternoon Forest Park Parkway is very congested and it can take 30 plus minutes to get home from work. Sometimes I take Clayton Road to Hampton and cut over to Hwy. 44 to get home. I will be happy when Hwy. 40 reopens, and I will go back to my original route.”
When completing the west half of the highway in 2008, the construction crews experienced numerous weather delays. Last year, rain and snow cost the construction crews about 45 works days. This year, weather has not posed a problem. Although crews have been lucky with the weather, there have been other difficulties during the construction of the east half of this large project.
“A challenge on the east half of the project has been the coordination of all the various work and coordinating with the utility companies to relocate their utilities,” I-64 Community Relations Manager Linda Wilson said. “Overall, the biggest challenge is simply the amount of work to accomplish in such a short time frame.”
During the past two years of construction, the closing of I-64 has impacted many area businesses, such as Hi-Fi Fo-Fum, located off Big Bend Boulevard in Richmond Heights. This small company, which specializes in audio and video systems, has noticed a drastic decrease in business due to construction on the Big Bend overpass.
“When they closed the first half it cost us about 25 percent of our business because a lot of our customers came from the West County and Chesterfield area,” said Anthony Dollar, Vice President of Hi-Fi Fo-Fum. “When they closed the other half it took another 30 percent and the West County customers have yet to come back as it seems in their mind they still can’t get here. Then they demolished and closed the Big Bend overpass which is right at our store and that has cost us around another 10 to 15 percent of our business. Now we have Ameren UE trucks surrounding our store and tearing up the roads.”
Once the entire highway is completely reopened, travelers should expect the traffic volumes to substantially increase.
“The west half of I-64 that has been open to traffic this year is not full of traffic yet,” Wilson said. “The traffic volumes are 60 to 80 percent of what was using I-64 before we started the construction project. Once the entire 10 miles is back open to traffic, we expect the traffic volumes to increase back to what they were before the construction began.”
The Missouri Department of Transportation expects drivers will need time to get used to the interchanges.
“Almost every interchange is different now than it used to be,” Wilson said. “For example, the interchange at Big Bend will have access in all directions. Before the construction, you could only get on and off the highway for one direction. The biggest change is the I-170 interchange and the exit ramps for Hanley and Brentwood. Motorists going eastbound I-64 will have one exit to go to either Brentwood or Hanley. Also, going westbound motorists will have one exit for Hanley and Brentwood. As a driver, you will have to pay attention to the signs and get used to where these new exits are to get to the roads you want to go to.”
Due to the inefficient traffic flow on the highway before the construction, many interchanges have been replaced to manage the traffic flow.
“We are confident that traffic will flow much better than it ever did before,” Galvin said. We have eliminated the inefficient cloverleaf interchanges and replaced them with the more up to date single point interchanges, and constructed a freeway to freeway interchange at I-170. So I expect the difference will be noticeable right away.”
On Dec. 6 there will be a public celebration between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. before the opening of the highway to traffic. The St. Louis Track Club will offer a five kilometer run and the Big Shark Bicycle Company will offer a cycling time trial early Sunday morning. After the celebration, the construction crews will work overnight to complete the highway before 5 a.m. on Dec. 7.
“People will be able to come out before traffic is on the road and walk or ride a bike on the highway,” Wilson said. “Last year, we had 20,000 people do this on the west half before we opened it to traffic. This year, we expect even more people. Information about the event will be posted on the project website at www.thenewi64.org.”

It is always great news when a project is completed below budget and earlier than expected. With the early opening of I-64, St. Louis receives an early holiday present.