MoDOT wants feedback on plans to close eastbound Interstate 64 in Midtown for a year 48%
By Will Bauer0%
4/29/2026, 2:07:13 PM
Topics: Infrastructure, Transportation
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Appeal to Emotion, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 14.8% saturation with 90 hits. Analysis detected 777 faulty-reasoning hits from 608 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.1% and a BS Rank of 48% (11,467 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 52.40% of the article peer group.
Missouri’s Department of Transportation is planning to shut down the eastbound lanes of Interstate 64 in Midtown St.
Louis for roughly a year starting in fall 2027 — and the state agency is inviting commuters to weigh in at a public meeting Thursday evening.
MoDOT is hosting the open house between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the City Foundry.
During the meeting, the agency’s engineers and planners will discuss preliminary plans to shut down about a mile of the interstate headed toward Illinois between Vandeventer and Compton avenues.
“It’s a big deal,” said Jen Wade, MoDOT’s engineer for St.
Louis.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on, and it’s time to really start talking to the public about the details of this project in particular.”
The maintenance required to upkeep the bridge that carries eastbound I-64 has increased over time, and it’s reached the point where investment to keep it going doesn’t make sense.
Overall, the project will cost around $120 million, Wade said.
While the eastbound lanes are completely closed, MoDOT will encourage drivers approaching from farther west to stay on Interstates 44 and 70.
If they are closer to the closure, two lanes of traffic will exit I-64 at Vandeventer and use Forest Park Avenue to continue east.
Other construction efforts in the project include:
Updating the interchange around eastbound I-64 at Grand Boulevard.
Rehabilitating the westbound I-64 bridge between Compton and Boyle avenues.
Widening the Compton Avenue bridge over I-64 to better accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.
Westbound I-64 will stay open and won’t be worked on until all eastbound lanes are complete in 2028.
The whole project should be completed by late 2029, Wade said.
Thursday evening’s meeting will not include a formal presentation.
Rather, the public can show up anytime in the three-hour window to learn, ask questions and provide feedback.
For anyone who can’t attend, MoDOT will post more information on its website after the meeting.
“Tomorrow’s about making sure people start understanding what’s coming, and if we can get any detailed information back from the public about things we need to make sure we’re mitigating or answer questions about what we already have in place,” Wade said.
The agency recently received pushback to its plans to revamp westbound ramps off I-64 at Grand and Compton.
While it’s not ideal to adjust the engineering, MoDOT would rather know now and change accordingly, Wade said.
The proposed construction effort comes from a recent study, called Future64, that aims to improve the interstate from Jefferson Avenue in the east to Kingshighway Boulevard in the west.
This isn’t the first time MoDOT has shut down I-64.
From January 2008 to December 2009, the state agency completely closed all lanes of the interstate in both directions for construction.
Wade remembers concerned commuters referring to the late 2000s closure as “carmageddon.”
This upcoming yearlong closure is different for a few reasons, she said.
While there was, of course, additional congestion like there will be in 2027, the section closed is smaller, and it’s only closed in one direction, which will mean MoDOT will prioritize eastbound detour traffic to minimize slowdowns.
Technology like Google Maps and Apple Maps also makes it easier to redirect drivers, and more people can work remotely now than in 2008, Wade said.
“We have a lot of reasons to be confident that if we really think through this, if we do a great job communicating and if we put as many mitigations into place, that this can be a lower-impact experience for the St.
Louis area,” she said.
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