June 9, 2011: Multi-number interstate shields in downtown St. Louis may be on their way out with I-70’s realignment. Many exit numbers, including those in the background, will be changing.
The I-70 Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opens across the Mississippi River in St. Louis today. It’s a big change for the interstate system at the Gateway to the West. (It will be only the second bridge besides the Eads NOT to have carried US 66 in the area.) The new I-70 rejoins the old at the I-55/64 interchange on the Illinois side.
I-44 will be extended “upward” past the Gateway Arch to the new I-70, which means that I-44’s east end will be facing northwest. That’s only fitting since its west end in Wichita Falls faces southeast!