A small bridge in south St. Louis County, currently under construction, will be fully closed until summer, according to St. Louis County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works.
The Bayless Avenue Bridge in Lemay, which sits just east of Interstate 55, shut down on Monday because the road’s pavement has gotten worse.
“The driving surface of that half of the bridge that remained open to traffic significantly deteriorated in recent weeks,” said Stephanie Leon Streeter, director of Transportation and Public Works. “Patching did little to stabilize the increasingly degraded pavement. We’ve reached the point where a full closure is unavoidable.”
Approximately 15,000 vehicles travel across the bridge over Gravois Creek on a typical weekday, according to county officials.
Construction to fully replace the bridge began last fall, and county crews had previously left half the bridge in place while demolishing and rebuilding the other half.
The new bridge is anticipated to be completed this summer. Until then, south county drivers can use marked detours along Lemay Ferry, Reavis Barracks and Union roads to get around the closed bridge.
