By Bill Raack, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – Motorists can expect some real problems moving through north St. Louis this weekend.
A two-mile stretch of Interstate 70 will be closed beginning Friday night in order to tear down the Cass Avenue Bridge over the highway.
Greg Horn with the Missouri Department of Transportation says the interstate and all ramps between the Poplar Street Bridge and St. Louis Avenue will be shut down at 8 p.m.
"You know we are going to have a detour sign but it will bring you through two miles of city streets, stop lights, stop signs, and we expect that detour to be at a crawl. So our point is we're encouraging traffic to use Highway 40 to get downtown this weekend and if you're coming from the airport, they need to be using 170 to 64," Horn said.
MODOT estimates that about 70,000 vehicles use I-70 through downtown each weekend.
The interstate is expected to re-open by 5 a-m on Monday.