The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to close one lane of a two-lane bridge on northbound I-55 at Hwy. Z in Pevely on Thursday night (March 16).
The closure, which will allow rehabilitation work to begin at the bridge, will start at 7 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. Friday (March 17), MoDOT said in a press release. The lane will close again from 5 p.m. March 17 through 5 a.m. March 20.
This is the first in a series of overnight and weekend lane closures to allow crews to improve 21 bridges along northbound and southbound I-55 from Hwy. Z to Plattin Creek just south of Crystal City.
In addition, the 16-mile stretch of I-55 from Hwy. Z to the Ste. Genevieve County line will be resurfaced and guardrail and sign improvements will be made on both sides of the interstate.
The overall project, which is expected to extend into 2018, has a $14 million price tag, MoDOT reported.
During the weekend lane closures in Pevely, the exit from northbound I-55 to Hwy. Z will also be closed. Drivers can detour around the exit by taking northbound I-55 to Hwy. M, then using I-55 to double back to the southbound Hwy. Z exit.
Pevely City Administrator Dickie Brown said drivers should follow MoDOT’s advice to safely navigate through the work area.
“Drivers should consider leaving early to allow time to drive through lane closure areas and also to reduce their speed around the construction workers,” Brown said.
MoDOT said drivers should use “the zipper merge technique,” using both lanes until reaching the defined merge area and then alternately merging every other vehicle in “zipper” fashion into the open lane.