Highway 40, some refer to it as Interstate 64, is closing in St. Louis. The Missouri Department of Transportation decided it would be quicker to close the the highway in two section to complete all the work. On Wednesday the first part of the highway closes. While this isn't part of the highway I use to get to work, it does serve as the termination point for my journey on highway 40.

Here is a quick look at the history of highway 40 in St. Louis. It's amazing to watch some of the old footage and see how unpopulated areas such as Chesterfield were at the time.

The biggest issue I have with the work is that it's impossible to construct a true 170 ring at Brentwood. When highway 170 was designed it was supposed to be an inner loop highway connection Interstate 70, Highway 64 and Interstate 44. Due to commercial building at Brentwood this is now impossible.

Here's a quick look at what the new interchange will look like:

The St. Louis area is freaking out, but I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. The first week will be chaos, but after that people will move to what is easiest for them. The only change I am making is to arrive at work earlier and leave earlier. My thought is that adjusting my schedule by one hour will allow me to miss most of the peak traffic running through at the time.