ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – Not long after showing off conceptual designs to address long-running problems with the Interstate 70 interchange with Interstate 64, the Missouri Department of Transportation now has something more concrete in hand: More money.
St. Charles County paid $1 million for the design work to date, but at the time of an August open house for the project in Wentzville, the rest of it was unfunded.
On Aug. 31, the Board of Directors for the East-West Gateway Council of Governments voted to approve $83.6 million in federal funding for the project, along with $9.3 million in state funding in a 90%/10% split.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program or STIP, approved this summer, has at least $77 million available for the project, which isn’t projected to start until at least 2025 and won’t be finished until 2027.
MoDOT’s conceptual design, which includes multiple through lanes of traffic on I-64 comes in with a $122 million pricetag, which could change due to inflation or changes in the final design.
The goal of the project is to reduce the daily bottlenecks that emerge in the area, especially in rush hour periods.
According to MoDOT, “approximately 75,000 vehicles use I-64 south of the interchange daily, while U.S. 61 carries over 60,000 per day. As both a major east-west interstate of national importance, and a commuter route connecting western St. Charles County to the rest of the St. Louis region, I-70 serves 85,000-90,000 vehicles per day.”
A MoDOT spokesman said the project could be divided up and finished in stages, depending on available funding.