Highway 30 Bridge Over Interstate 44 to Close
Date Posted: March 7, 2023
Posted In: News, Projects,
From emissourian.com: Demolition work on the deck of the Highway 30 bridge over Interstate 44 in St. Clair could cause traffic snarls this week.
The bridge and all entrance and exit ramps will close to traffic at 7 a.m. Thursday, March 2, according to a Missouri Department of Transportation news release. Bridge demolition will take place in the evenings from March 3 to March 5.
During demolition, traffic on I-44 will be reduced to one lane, with traffic detoured over the on and off ramps at Highway 30. No through traffic will be allowed on Highway 30. Detour signs will be in place directing traffic south of I-44 to Highway 47 as an alternate route, while traffic north of the interstate will be detoured on the North Service Road.
Lane closures will be in place on I-44 eastbound from 9 p.m., Friday, March 3, to 6 a.m. Saturday, March 4; on I-44 westbound from 9 p.m. Saturday, March 4, to 6 a.m. Saturday, March 5; and on both eastbound and westbound from 10 p.m. Sunday, March 5, to 5 a.m. Monday, March 6.
The bridge and all ramps are expected to reopen by early May, weather permitting, according to MoDOT.
The Highway 30 bridge deck replacement is part of a larger project that also included the replacement of the Highway 47 bridge deck over Interstate 44 in fall 2022. The cost of the total project is $4.19 million.
The Highway 30 bridge deck was originally expected to be replaced late last year, but after delays, the contractor, Pace Construction, of St. Louis, opted to work on replacing the Highway HH bridge over Calvey Creek, south of Catawissa, before starting the Highway 30 bridge project, said Stephen O’Connor, MoDOT area engineer for Franklin and Jefferson counties.
“They decided to do 47, then go out to HH and work on that, and in March, they are going to start on the Route 30 bridge,” O’Connor told The Missourian. “They couldn’t really start on the 30 bridge when 47 got done, because there are only 66 days to get the bridge open. If they started it in the middle of winter, they were worried it might be a bad winter and they might not be able to get it done in 66 days.”