After nearly 18 months of construction, the long-discussed Lafayette Street interchange with the U.S. 50-63 Expressway should be open to traffic Sept. 9.
The new Jackson Street overpass is planned to be opened Wednesday.
And the completion of the interchange work means the state Transportation department will close the Clark Avenue bridge over the highway on Sept. 12, so its driving deck can be replaced this year, rather than waiting until 2017.
"At one point, we thought we might have to postpone the Clark Avenue bridge work until next spring because of weather delays experienced earlier in the project," said Patty Lemongelli, construction and materials engineer for the MoDOT's Central District. "The contractor, Emery Sapp and Sons, has made up some of that time, and now it looks as if they'll get to the Clark Avenue repairs yet this year."
The $20.3 million interchange project included adding a lane on each side of the Rex Whitton Expressway between Monroe and Lafayette streets and between Lafayette and Clark.
That widening required the 2015 demolition of the Chestnut and Jackson street bridges over the highway. The Chestnut Street bridge replaced last year, and the Jackson Street overpass reconstruction started this past June.
The Clark Avenue overpass will be closed for 45 days while the bridge gets a new driving surface and the pavement on either side of the bridge is repaired.
The Expressway's on- and off-ramps at Clark Avenue will remain open until Sept. 26, but then also will be closed for the remaining 30 days of the 45-day closure.
Even after the Lafayette interchange opens at the end of next week, MoDOT said some work remains to be completed - including mounting sound walls along the Expressway and rebuilding the Greenway pedestrian trail in the area.
More information about the project - including traffic impact summaries and weekly construction updates - is available online, at www.modot.org/central/major_projects/LafayetteInterchange.htm.