Details of I-64 project in St. Louis announced

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Commuters who travel along Interstate 64 in the St. Louis area beware: Your three-year odyssey of orange cones, closed ramps and lane changes is about to begin.

Gateway Constructors, the team hired by the Missouri Department of Transportation to rebuild 10 miles of the busy interstate, on Monday announced more details about its construction schedule for 2007. Overall, the project is expected to cost $535 million.

Those plans include closing the ramps from Hanley Road to westbound I-64 in March and beginning construction on new flyover ramps to Interstate 170 there. That move will impact thousands of motorists each day.

Gateway spokesman Dan Galvin said that once the Hanley ramps close, motorists on Hanley won't be able to enter westbound I-64 until late 2009.

In that same area in March, I-170 from Galleria Parkway to I-64 will be reduced to two lanes from three in each direction, and the lanes will be shifted to the west. The ramp from Galleria Parkway to southbound I-170 and the exit from northbound I-170 onto the parkway will also close.

Garry Earls, head of the St. Louis County Highway Department, said the closures will occur earlier than he'd thought. He called that "problematic." The closures are expected to result in increased traffic on Brentwood Boulevard, Clayton Road and on many other streets in the central part of the county.

Plans also call for 42 homes to be demolished late next month at the intersection of I-170 and I-64.

In April, Kingshighway -- the busiest street in St. Louis -- will be reduced to two lanes from three in each direction as crews begin rebuilding the bridge over I-64. Total closure of the bridge will occur on nights and weekends during demolition.

Bridges at Tamm Avenue, Bellevue Avenue, Boland Avenue, and Highland Terrace will close in April.

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Information from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com.