Two Lanes on Blanchette Bridge to Close July 26-Aug. 8

Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) plans to close lanes on Interstate 70 for an annual safety inspection during the day from July 26 and Aug. 8, according to a press release. 

The two westbound lanes on Interstate 70 will be closed between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Crews will first inspect the two right lanes, then inspect the two left lanes between July 26 and Aug. 1.

Crews will close two eastbound lanes between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Aug. 1 and 8, first inspecting right lanes, then two left lanes.

The westbound span of the Blanchette Bridge is scheduled to have a major overhaul in 2012.

The $60 million project will include replacing the deck of the bridge, expansion joints and broken or missing rivets, said Tom Evers, Blanchette Bridge project manager, in a presentation to the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce in February.

MoDOT expects to hire a contractor for the project in November 2011. The contractor would close the bridge for a yet-to-be-determined 12-month period between January 2012 and December 2013.

The bridge currently has five lanes, but it will be restriped to have three lanes in each direction. Lanes will be 10 feet across, which is the same width as the lanes on the eastbound Daniel Boone Bridge into St. Charles County at Highway 40.

Traffic would cross over in St. Louis County right before drivers get onto the bride heading west. The crossover would be just past Fifth Street in St. Charles County for drivers heading east.

Learn more about planned closures at www.modot.org/stlouis/.