ST. LOUIS (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
Local commuters have reason to celebrate. The long awaited renovation of Interstate 64/Highway 40 will be complete in a month. MODOT officials announced Friday the second phase of the more than half billion dollar project will open December 7th, nearly a month ahead of schedule. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley called it an early present that will be welcomed by shoppers and retailers alike. St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay thanked the traveling public for its cooperation and patience. He predicted the rebuilt ten miles of highway will be "a long time asset and economic generator for the St. Louis region."
Two years ago talk of closing down parts of the major traffic corridor had critics predicting the entire region would grind to a halt leaving motorists mired in bumper to bumper traffic. But planning by Missouri's Department of Transportation and its contractors succeeded in keeping traffic disruption to a minimum. Local communities worked cooperatively with MODOT to find the best way to re-route traffic and deal with temporary road closings.
The western half of the project from I-270 to the inner belt (I-170) was completed two weeks early in December 2008. The second phase runs from I-170 to Kingshighway. A total of 12 interchanges and 29 bridges were built upgrading the highway to modern standards.
"It is an example of regional cooperation," said Pete Rahn, MODOT Director as he announced the planned ribbon cutting on December 6 and the highway opening Monday, December 7th. "This was a project we knew we could not fail on," Rahn said. The early completion will earn the consortium of contractors a two million dollar bonus. Overall, the project should cost 11 million dollars less than its anticipated cost of 535 million dollars. Savings were found in lower MODOT staffing and land acquisition costs.
Dan Galvin, spokesman for the contractors, became the public face for the project issuing regular reports on road closings, detours, and construction progress. He said this was the best project he has ever been associated with. It was the first large "design and build" job in Missouri where the designers and contractors work under the same roof and are able to quickly fix any problems that come up.
The state and St. Louis County installed fiber optic cable to synchronize traffic lights on arterial roads that carried the highway traffic during construction. Galvin predicted those additions to the system will continue to pay off in easier commutes.
"Time is money and any time you can get people to where they need to go faster you're saving them money, you're reducing the cost that businesses have to incur for getting around congestion," Galvin said.
News of a date being set for the re-opening is being greeted with big smiles all over the St. Louis area. Businesses say it feels like Christmas, and for some commuters, it's more like Independence Day.
In Clayton, the Design Block boutique on Clayton Road spent the last year struggling to survive. Business was down nearly forty percent, and there's no question in manager Sue Callahan's mind that the Highway 40 project was the culprit.
"We just don't get people coming in the store," she says. "We don't get foot traffic. There's no place to park. We just don't get people coming in."
The re-opening is big news here. But even bigger is the fact that it's coming early. A December 7th open date means the all-important holiday season won't be a total loss.
"We can't wait. We'll still have a few weeks of the Christmas holidays and hopefully people will rediscover Clayton and this part of Clayton Road," Callahan says.
Meanwhile, drivers who've spent the last two years working around the 40 project are equally thrilled.
Marshall Rice drives from Troy, Illinois to his job as Chief Engineer at Bonneville Radio in Creve Coeur every day. The highway work has added twenty minutes each way to his commute. That's about 3 ½ hours extra that he spends on the road every week. Now he's getting that back.
"It means more sleep time. More time to spend with my family and spend at home," he says. "And less time on the road."
Light at the end of the tunnel for so many as this massive project now has only a month to go.
Two years ago talk of closing down parts of the major traffic corridor had critics predicting the entire region would grind to a halt leaving motorists mired in bumper to bumper traffic. But planning by Missouri's Department of Transportation and its contractors succeeded in keeping traffic disruption to a minimum. Local communities worked cooperatively with MODOT to find the best way to re-route traffic and deal with temporary road closings.
The western half of the project from I-270 to the inner belt (I-170) was completed two weeks early in December 2008. The second phase runs from I-170 to Kingshighway. A total of 12 interchanges and 29 bridges were built upgrading the highway to modern standards.
"It is an example of regional cooperation," said Pete Rahn, MODOT Director as he announced the planned ribbon cutting on December 6 and the highway opening Monday, December 7th. "This was a project we knew we could not fail on," Rahn said. The early completion will earn the consortium of contractors a two million dollar bonus. Overall, the project should cost 11 million dollars less than its anticipated cost of 535 million dollars. Savings were found in lower MODOT staffing and land acquisition costs.
Dan Galvin, spokesman for the contractors, became the public face for the project issuing regular reports on road closings, detours, and construction progress. He said this was the best project he has ever been associated with. It was the first large "design and build" job in Missouri where the designers and contractors work under the same roof and are able to quickly fix any problems that come up.
The state and St. Louis County installed fiber optic cable to synchronize traffic lights on arterial roads that carried the highway traffic during construction. Galvin predicted those additions to the system will continue to pay off in easier commutes.
"Time is money and any time you can get people to where they need to go faster you're saving them money, you're reducing the cost that businesses have to incur for getting around congestion," Galvin said.
News of a date being set for the re-opening is being greeted with big smiles all over the St. Louis area. Businesses say it feels like Christmas, and for some commuters, it's more like Independence Day.
In Clayton, the Design Block boutique on Clayton Road spent the last year struggling to survive. Business was down nearly forty percent, and there's no question in manager Sue Callahan's mind that the Highway 40 project was the culprit.
"We just don't get people coming in the store," she says. "We don't get foot traffic. There's no place to park. We just don't get people coming in."
The re-opening is big news here. But even bigger is the fact that it's coming early. A December 7th open date means the all-important holiday season won't be a total loss.
"We can't wait. We'll still have a few weeks of the Christmas holidays and hopefully people will rediscover Clayton and this part of Clayton Road," Callahan says.
Meanwhile, drivers who've spent the last two years working around the 40 project are equally thrilled.
Marshall Rice drives from Troy, Illinois to his job as Chief Engineer at Bonneville Radio in Creve Coeur every day. The highway work has added twenty minutes each way to his commute. That's about 3 ½ hours extra that he spends on the road every week. Now he's getting that back.
"It means more sleep time. More time to spend with my family and spend at home," he says. "And less time on the road."
Light at the end of the tunnel for so many as this massive project now has only a month to go.
