Crews Pour Concrete on Last Part of Bridge Deck on Blanchette Bridge

Crews spent Thursday morning pouring concrete on the final part of the bridge deck for the westbound span of the Blanchette Bridge, a major step toward finishing construction on the project that began last November.
The westbound span is expected to open to traffic again on Aug. 15 or 16, said Linda Wilson Horn, Community Relations Coordinator for the Missouri Department of Transportation, just in time for the Festival of the Little Hills in St. Charles. 
The craft festival brings between 200,000 to 300,000 people to the riverfront each year. 
Workers will spend the next few weeks finishing up work including pouring pavement on the approaches to the bridge, installing a barrier wall, painting the bridge span and restriping work.
Initially, just three lanes will be open in each direction on the bridge because westbound I-70 will have only three lanes open on either side of the bridge. 
It will take crews until the end of August to pull up the barriers, restripe lanes and return the highway to normal, Horn said. Motorists should expect delays and lane closures off and on from Aug. 9 to 26. 
The bridge is expected to be open with five lanes of traffic in each direction by Aug. 26. 
St. Charles Director of Administration Michael Spurgeon said city officials are thrilled to have the project completed by the time the festival begins. He praised the efforts of the city and MoDOT to publicize alternate routes to St. Charles.
"I think the impact has been not as severe as we thought it could be," he said.