Construction Begins on New Interstate 270 Bridge
Date Posted: February 23, 2023
Posted In: News, Projects,
From St. Louis Public Radio: This week is a milestone for transportation in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) blocked off the ramp from Riverview Drive in St. Louis to eastbound Interstate 270 to build a new interchange. The ramp will remain closed for more than a year.
Why is that so significant?
It signals that construction is beginning in earnest on a new Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River. Missouri and Illinois, which jointly own the existing bridge, have been planning a replacement for years and hoping that funding would become available.
“The first substructures (for the bridge) are expected to be poured later in February,” MoDOT officials stated last week when announcing the ramp closure.
The contractor is Walsh Construction, headquartered in Chicago with regional offices throughout the United States, which already has been making construction preparations on the river’s bank.
The new bridge will actually be “twin” bridges, one on the same alignment as the existing bridge and one directly south of it, according to an overview on the Illinois Department of Transportation website.
A longstanding complaint about the existing bridge is that its 1-foot-wide shoulders keep first responders from quickly reaching accidents and motorists from pulling over with mechanical problems.
Plans call for wide shoulders on either side of the new bridge’s four lanes.
“While I-270 is currently four lanes, MoDOT has completed a study for I-270 in Missouri that proposed expanding I-270 to six lanes up to Riverview Drive in Missouri,” according to an overview on the Illinois Department of Transportation’s website.
“Similarly, IDOT has recently initiated a study to potentially expand I-270 to six lanes from Missouri to Illinois Route 157. The Chain of Rocks bridge, as currently proposed, will be wide enough to accommodate the future six lanes when they are needed.”