Three days after the closure of the westbound lanes of the I-70 Blanchette Bridge, officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation say traffic continues to move smoothly.
However, they are concerned that motorists are falling back into old habits.
Linda Wilson Horn with MoDOT says they’ve seen a steady increase in drivers traveling I-70.
“The I-70 numbers continue to increase,” said Wilson. “And in fact, when you look at the overall rush period from five- to -9 a.m., we had as much traffic crossing the I-70 bridge as we did last week when we had two more lanes. They’re more spread out, but the volume of traffic is still there.”
Wilson Horn says drivers should continue to take I-270 to either Route 364 or 370 when heading west over the river.
The westbound lanes of the bridge are closed so that workers can rebuild and replace about 75 percent of the structure. Traffic is switched over to the eastbound span to accommodate the work.
The westbound bridge will remain closed until fall of 2013. The project is expected to cost roughly $63 million.