Last Saturday started with the construction of barricades at Kingshighway. In such way MoDot (Missouri Department of Transportation) carried out the second phase of the shutdown program of Highway 40.
The process began at 7 a. m. and everyone who was passing nearby could watch the following: the workers situated from downtown to Kingshighway. The crews posted new warnings over exit signs, put up orange tapers and casks, shifted obsolete lane markings and painted the new ones instead of them.
These preparation works lasted for 2 and a half hours and then the interstate was officially blocked.
According to Gateway Constructors Spokesman Dan Galvin’s words the whole part of the project will be closed during the last days of this year and most of the next one.
"A lot of people are gonna be lost, and I'm one of them," says Ron Reynolds with a laugh. Reynolds lives at the intersection of Highway 40 and McCausland.
The closure came two days early, but there were years of warning. Still there was surprise and disobedience. Fox 2 cameras saw more than one driver weaving around the barricades, entering the "do not enter" zone.
"They think well I'm in a hurry so I'm just going to take my chances about getting a ticket," says Galvin. "If you see an opportunity like that, don't do it. The highway patrol is out there, other police agencies are, they know who's supposed to be out there and who isn't. It's a very expensive ticket to drive around those barricades."
Galvin believes the eastbound side of this closure will be worse than the westbound side because I-64 ends at Kingshighway, a city street. For this weekend, 170 is in the same shape. Until the new section of Highway 40 opens Monday morning, 170 southbound ends at Eager Road.
Traffic was backed up all around St. Louis Saturday afternoon, especially near the Galleria Mall. Some drivers were honking, some were upset, some were losing patience, but one woman sitting at the exit to the Brentwood Square shopping center said there are more important things than traffic to worry about these days.
"Patience is virtue," she says. "I've got bigger things in my life to worry about right now. If it takes a little longer to get to the Galleria or get up 170, you just deal with it."
"Layoffs, money troubles, traffic is no big deal."
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