i was reading this article today and it mentioned near the end that the jefferson ave bridge south of 64 will be torn down this summer!  i knew the bridge was a POS, but i had no idea they were tearing it down.  does anyone have a rendering of the new bridge?  if i had to guess, i'm thinking it will be plain like the new chouteau bridge.  i guess that's still better than current bridge.    



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/commutingtraffic/story/0839E2A043D04C02862572B6001B8225?OpenDocument

It is a much needed replacement. The bridge by the Residence Inn is in dire need of major work.

^No doubt one of the worst in the City.

It'll be the same style of bridge, but will have only four lanes. Sidewalks will be on both sides and it'll have bike lanes too. Also, there will be a 19' landscaped median down the middle.

It'll be the same style of bridge, but will have only four lanes. Sidewalks will be on both sides and it'll have bike lanes too. Also, there will be a 19' landscaped median down the middle.

Have you seen a rendering? It sounds alright - the bridges across mill creek have been stretched to capacity with ultra narrow lanes and no shoulder and very narrow sidewalks. I'm looking forward to something that serves as a better connector.

Grover wrote:

It'll be the same style of bridge, but will have only four lanes. Sidewalks will be on both sides and it'll have bike lanes too. Also, there will be a 19' landscaped median down the middle.

Have you seen a rendering? It sounds alright - the bridges across mill creek have been stretched to capacity with ultra narrow lanes and no shoulder and very narrow sidewalks. I'm looking forward to something that serves as a better connector.

I've just seen a cross section of the bridge. This bridge crosses multiple railroads and MetroLink and carries several utilities. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't take as long or longer than Chouteau.



BTW, I've seen some pictures of under the bridge and it will probably fall down soon if it wasn't replaced(I'm not kidding at all)

I have walked across this bridge...my wife and I live downtown and have walked to Lafayette Square across the bridge, there are holes so big you could put your leg through...this needs to be done ASAP...once it is though downtown will be much more connected to the area just south of 40...Truman Parkway has helped on the eastern end, this will help on the western edge, it can only be more pedestrian friendsly as there is no possible way to be less pedestrian friendly than the current bridge

I've just seen a cross section of the bridge.

Come to think of it, I think I saw this too (maybe it was the Grand Ave bridge contest stuff instead). Any chance you can post it?

^Well you're probably thinking of the Grand Avenue Viaduct. The cross section is more of an engineer's drawing instead of an artist's deception. Also, the drawing is a little dated since it had three lanes each way, one sidewalk, and a narrower median. I haven't seen what the latest changes will look like, except in writing.

I like how gaudy the kingshighway bridge is. I like the flur-de-lis that line the walkways and the overkill with the lighting. When driving on 44 at night I think it looks awesome from the highway.

I'd remove every-other lamppost on Kingshighway. Other than that, I think it would be a great design for Jefferson.

^ the sidewalks need some protection from the traffic lanes. There are too many lights - how about every other one being put up in my neighborhood!?!



By the way - I like the idea of a median, but 19 feet!?! That's wide enough for, say, a streetcar!! Please don't tell me that someone is planning ahead! What happened to the days when an extra lane of traffic squeezed into, well everywhere, was paramount!?!?

Another project - not related to I-64 - will close busy bridge

Tom Weber, KWMU



ST. LOUIS, MO (2007-05-14) The big I-64 construction project has been getting a lot of attention of late, but there's another project coming in St. Louis could create its own set of traffic snarls.



The bridge that takes Jefferson Avenue over a rail-yard just south of I-64 will close in August or September, then be torn down and re-built. It will be closed for at least a year.



Link to Rest of Story

Make it W - I - D - E ! ! ! ! There should be a minimum 12ft pedestrian walkway on both sides that is separated from traffic by a permanent barrier.

The city of St. Louis is gonna be horrific with traffic in the coming months. It will remind me of downtown KC which has the power and light district forcing roads to be closed and changed all in the downtown area...its just that our central corridor will be screwed, instead of just the CBD area.



Though this project is much needed, but all of our bridges suck.

I don't drive a lot so I'm not as concerned with the construction as others, but I think that StL will suffer much, much less than just about any other city. My wife and I were downtown this past weekend and never, NEVER had to so much as pause to walk across a single street - Market, Washington, 4th Street - no problem! Traffic will get worse, but traffic in the city isn't bad, at all. The only problem will be that traffic is so relatively light that planning (stoplights/signs/etc.) probably aren't designed to handle any increase. It will take some adjustment. IF 40, this bridge, and other projects are done on budget and in time it will bode very well for future needs. Also, anyone have a guess as to when the two-level sevtion of 40 downtown will need some serious work? Walking under it this week it looks rather worn.

Grover wrote: Also, anyone have a guess as to when the two-level sevtion of 40 downtown will need some serious work? Walking under it this week it looks rather worn.

Right now plans are to replace the bridge decks around 2012. The rest of the structures will remain intact.

Fortunately from Interstates 44 and 55, the new Truman Parkway offers a fairly nice detour to Jefferson. Indeed, traffic at 40 and Jefferson should be significantly less during the viaduct reconstruction, since 44/55 traffic normally going over 40 on Jefferson will then be shifted away from this area.



The biggest backup in the City from New I-64 that I foresee is Barnes traffic heading to I-44 on Vandeventer and Kingshighway in the evening. It's already heavy with motorists heading to EB 44/SB 55. But once 40 closes, it will also have to handle more traffic heading to WB 44 in the evening. Recently, the WB I-44 off-ramp to Vandeventer/Kingshighway was greatly improved for morning rush hour. Unfortunately, however, the evening southbound traffic from Vandeventer and Kingsghighway heading to I-44 is still a mess (too much volume for light cycles and queuing space), and likely a bigger mess waiting to happen once 40 closes.

Truman could be a good detour if they would fix the signals on it. I thought I would give it a try to connect from 64/40 to 44/55 and the lights were totally out of sync. I make much better time using Jefferson.



Truman Parkway, to me, is another craptacular, overbuilt, and unnecessary project by the city(I stand corrected).

they're going to replace the bridge decks of 40 downtown? How will they do this? where did you hear about this? Is it possible for st. louis to do a big dig style development, then again, maybe we wouldn't want to.

TIABstl wrote:Truman could be a good detour if they would fix the signals on it. I thought I would give it a try to connect from 64/40 to 44/55 and the lights were totally out of sync. I make much better time using Jefferson.



Truman Parkway, to me, is another craptacular, overbuilt, and unnecessary project by MODOT.

the City built it. I've noticed the same things with the signals though. All the intersections have those fancy cameras that are supposed to better regulate traffic, but I don't think anyone ever hit the 'on' switch. My favorite is stopping at the red light in front of the Ameren parking lot to let the tumbleweed through. Hopefully there will be some changes made since Truman/18th could become a major detour for Jefferson.

JCity wrote:they're going to replace the bridge decks of 40 downtown? How will they do this? where did you hear about this? Is it possible for st. louis to do a big dig style development, then again, maybe we wouldn't want to.

I meant rehab. It'll probably be a mess, but I bet MoDOT can do it with one lane shut down at a time. MoDOT doesn't have enough money to bury the things, hell they don't have enough to do much now. I don't know much about the Big Dig, but I don't know if MoDOT could bury it because most of the double deck goes through the Mill Creek Valley. Massachusetts is having enough trouble keeping water out of the Big Dig.

brickandmortar wrote:


the City built it. I've noticed the same things with the signals though. All the intersections have those fancy cameras that are supposed to better regulate traffic, but I don't think anyone ever hit the 'on' switch. My favorite is stopping at the red light in front of the Ameren parking lot to let the tumbleweed through.

Particularly on a sunday.

Better start figuring out detours. The bridge is set to close at the end of the month or beginning of October.