Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hanley and Eager Improvements Added to I-64

The Missouri Department of Transportation, Gateway Constructors and St. Louis County announcedmore improvements at the Hanley and Eager intersection as part of the I-64 reconstruction contract. St. Louis County will pay Gateway Constructors $4.6 million to complete the work with the I-64 contract keeping the original completion milestone for I-64 to open all lanes by Dec. 31, 2009. Construction will begin on the I-64/Hanley interchange and Hanley and Eager intersection when the west half of I-64 reopens in late 2008 or no later than Jan. 2, 2009.

"In order for us to complete the additional work and keep our schedule, Hanley Road over I-64 will be closed for up to eight months," said MoDOT District Engineer Ed Hassinger. "The keys to getting around will include the opening ofI-64 from I-170 west including Brentwood and the reopening of access from Eager to northbound I-170. All of these items will be complete before we close Hanley. We will also connect two lanes in each direction on Hanley directly to Eager Road so traffic can flow from Hanley to Eager to the I-170 ramps."

MoDOT's original design for the Hanley and Eager intersection would have restricted the traffic to just a right turn in and right turn out of Eager at Hanley. The additional improvements will enable traffic on Hanley and Eager to travel in either direction through the intersection, with reduced congestion.

"The Hanley and Eager intersection is notorious for terrible traffic and this project will provide a great improvement to the traffic flow when complete," said St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley. "Doing the work now reduces the disruptions to motorists if we had to do this work after I-64 was complete and costs less than half of what it could cost to do it later. The County will work with MoDOT to spread the word that Mid-County is still open for business and there are many ways to get around."