This spring many commuters will experience lane closures on I-64 in western St. Louis County.

Though traffic may become heavy due to construction, The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDot) said this roadwork will lead to a better flow of traffic in the future.

“The project will add an additional lane in the westbound direction between I-270 and Route 340 (Clarkson Road), and an additional lane in the eastbound direction from Route 141 to I-270,” Tom Montes-de-Oca, Project Engineer, said about the construction.

Traffic has a tendency to become quite dense on I-64, especially as workers flood the highway during the morning and evening rush hour.

“This section of I-64 is highly congested during the rush hours and the additional lanes will provide additional capacity to help ease the congestion,” said Montes-de-Oca.

Similar lane-addition projects have taken place on I-270. Montes-de-Oca agrees that the average traffic speed has increased, and the time the highway has spent congested has lowered. It is expected that a similar fate will occur with I-64. Westbound lane additions will be occurring as far west as Clarkson Road in Chesterfield.

The highway, however, will not be receiving new lanes west of Clarkson in the Chesterfield Valley area. Montes-de-Oca feels highway congestion there will be solved with the construction of the newer, wider Daniel Boone Bridge over the Missouri River.

“I’d say a majority of the work will occur during daylight hours but there will be night work as well,” said Montes-de-Oca.

Plans for the project were announced in 2014, with construction beginning this spring. Montes- de-Oca is hoping for a late 2016/early 2017 completion. At this point, the project is on schedule.

“We usually run into various issues time to time and I’m sure we’ll have our challenges on this project as well but so far it has been running pretty smooth,” said Montes-de-Oca.

Scott Szevery, social studies teacher, is one who uses I-64. He generally arrives at school early in order to avoid traffic backups.

“It’s a great time to get work done, but it’s also a way to avoid it taking really long to commute here,” Szevery said.

Similar lane-addition projects have taken place on I-270. Montes-de-Oca said the average traffic speed has increased and congestion on the highway is lower. It is expected that a similar fate will occur with I-64.

“The last time they did a major renovation on the highway included basically redoing the 270 interchange and adding lances,” said Szevery, “They actually shut down the highway for several months.”

Westbound lane additions will occur as far west as Clarkson Road in Chesterfield. However, the highway will not recieve new lanes west of Clarkson in the Chesterfield Valley area.