MoDot: First day of I-64 closure was headache-free

ST. LOUIS -- Traffic jams were few and delays were short Wednesday morning when the Missouri Department of Transportation shut down Interstate 64 and began the largest construction project in the agency's history, director Pete Rahn said.

"We are extremely pleased with the first rush hour," Rahn told reporters during a morning news conference.

The long-awaited -- and much-dreaded -- highway shutdown is part of a two-year, $535 million project to refurbish a stretch of interstate that runs through the heart of St. Louis and its suburbs, and has become a critical artery for commuters.

Rahn said an extensive analysis led to the decision to close all lanes of I-64 for two years, instead of leaving one lane open and stretching the effort out to a six- or eight-year undertaking. Many residents and officials anticipated a traffic nightmare, with thousands of cars spilling onto local roads and connecting highways as commuters found new routes to work.

Traffic volume was up Wednesday on nearby Interstates 70 and 44, but there were no major snarls, Rahn said. MoDOT has added extra lanes to I-44 and I-70 to accept the spillover.

One quiet morning doesn't mean the project will be headache-free. MoDOT expects a real test Monday when schools reopen after the holidays. MoDOT crews also got a lucky break Wednesday because there weren't any major accidents.

"If we had had two or three crashes today, we could be looking at a completely different scenario," he said.

More than 100 employees of Gateway Constructors fanned out along the five-mile stretch of highway just after midnight to start taking down guardrails and breaking up pavement, spokesman Dan Galvin said. The project will employ about 450 workers when construction is at its peak, he said.

The project will replace aging bridges and roads dating back decades, MoDOT spokeswoman Linda Wilson said. Of the 30 bridges along the route, about half have been deemed structurally deteriorated, she said. Eighty percent of the project's funding comes from the federal government, with the remainder coming from state transportation coffers.

The first five-mile stretch of interstate will be closed during 2008 and the second during 2009.

Many institutions have taken steps to accommodate the shutdown. The St. Louis Zoo is adding extra attractions this summer -- including robotic dinosaurs -- to entice visitors who might be deterred by a long detour, zoo president Jeffrey Bonner said.

After initially predicting a 15 percent drop in the number of visitors, the zoo now thinks the impact will be less, Bonner said. He noted that his own commute Wednesday morning form the suburb of Ladue wasn't more crowded than usual.

"I don't think it will be as bad as we initially thought," Bonner said. "We're actually not too concerned about it."