WENTZVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) reveals its design Monday to reduce congestion and accidents at Interstate 64 and 70 in St. Charles County.
“It’s, one, the major route to everything, it’s also the major bottleneck to everything, “said Edward Moreland, St. Charles County resident.
The solutions to fix the problems facing the I-64 and I-70 interchange have been a debate over the years in the county. MoDOT St. Louis District Engineer, Tom Blair said he hopes revealing the new design at the public meeting in Wentzville can offer hope for drivers.
“We’re gaining that input tonight to see if there’s anything we missed, to see what tweaks we need to make before we can put your tax dollars to work,” Blair said.
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After MoDOT produced 12 possible designs, they were able to move forward with one. Blair said MoDOT proposed changes to the interchange by adding more one and two-lane ramps. They also suggested creating two new lanes which will cut right through the middle of the interchange. It will remove left-hand exits for I-64.
“It will get a lot of people moving where they ought to,” Moreland said. “The left turn to get on I-70 westbound has been a disaster and there have been a lot of wrecks there.”
According to MoDOT, there are 25% more crashes each year than expected.
“It will stop, and you will crawl all the way through Wentzville and through all the merging through I-70,” said Sandy Cash, Wentzville resident. “We just continue to grow and we got to keep up with our growth.”
MoDOT officials said they expect it’ll be another three years before any of the proposed changes become finalized.
You can find more information about MoDOT plans for the interchange by clicking here.