Thanks! Man do I know way too much of that highway!!!
I miss the hills between Spoede (that is Spay-dee for you non St. Louisians.......) and Clarkson that they took out some years ago, I spun my Turbo T/A out in a rainstorm on one out just after 141 and 40.
It was a blast to go fast on them hills!!
I remember the "double decker" highway as we called it and then when they FINALLY opened the Vandeventer overpass. Man did that take forever.... I still love the twisty turney highway....
And yes, I remember before the innerbelt was called I-170 and was finished, it was like such and after thought highway, no way to put in exits to 40.... I won't miss that.... My mom took that to work every day, she worked at the St. Louis County Gov building there in Clayton. So she got stuck with that one....Getting off at Brentwood there in the video and getting on to the outer road to get on the the innerbelt..... It was like the hidden highway as a kid, as if you didn't know how to get on it you never could..... Or wouldn't even know it existed, no signs or anything to get to it....
This month they shut down the section of 40 that goes between 170 and 270. It will be closed for at least a year! To get to my Kirkwood office I now take Ballas to Clayton to Lindbergh to Manchester, or 270 S to Manchester E when traffic is light. To get downtown, I've mostly given up on 40 and just take 70 or 44.
OMG.... I can't imagine the mess!!! Like Chicago killing off the Dan Ryan for 2 years.... But at least they had the express lanes to fall back on....
It isn't like MetroLink is worth too much to help out either....
It's actually not too bad because people were freaking out, and almost over-prepared. People arranged carpools, changed work schedules, even moved. I would say traffic is now back to the way it was a few years ago, back before they widened 141, redid the Olive interchanges, widened and extended Page Ave., etc.
Metrolink funding has always been a problem - slow progress, but they did open a new line into downtown Clayton and Maplewood. That will help for the 2009 construction. Mass transit is almost useless for the 2008 construction.
--Automobile Magazine, May 2004
