Carries 10 lanes of I-70 Total length 1,244 m (4,083 ft) | Crosses Missouri River Cross Missouri River | |
Maintained by Missouri Department of Transportation Design twin Cantilever bridges Width WB: 18.3 m (60 ft)
EB: 20.7 m (68 ft) Address I-70, Maryland Heights, MO 63043, USA Locale St. Louis County, Missouri | ||
The Blanchette Memorial Bridge are a pair of twin cantilever bridges carrying Interstate 70 across the Missouri River between St. Louis County and St. Charles County, Missouri, opened in 1959. Handling an average of 165,000 vehicle transits per day, it is the area's busiest bridge. Construction of the first interstate highway project under provisions of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 started west of the bridge's present location. A sign commemorating the site of the nation's first interstate project stands next to Interstate 70 just east of the Missouri Route 94/First Capitol Drive overpass.
The bridge is named for French Canadian fur trader and hunter Louis Blanchette, who founded St. Charles as a post along the Missouri River; the village was the first European settlement along this waterway.
Major rehabilitations for the Westbound span have been addressed to MoDot in the late 2000s. The project started with the closure of the westbound span on November 4, 2012. During the closure, westbound traffic was diverted to the freeway's east side, for 3 narrow lanes in each direction. The westbound bridge's old superstructure was demolished in two explosions, with the first taking place on November 18, 2012. The second and final blast was on December 4, 2012. Construction of the replacement bridge started in Spring of 2013, and the new bridge opened more than two months ahead of schedule in August 2013. The entire project will be complete by late 2014.