Heads up, Festus drivers and local travelers: major changes are coming your way this weekend. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has announced that they'll be shutting down North Third Street under Interstate 55 starting from 1 p.m. yesterday, and it won't be reopening until 5 a.m. Monday. The reason is it's time to say goodbye to the old bridge connecting the strips of the I-55.
It's a necessary inconvenience as crews work to safely demolish the old northbound structure that has been bypassed by the just-opened new bridge. In a move that's sure to test the patience and perhaps the creativity of those affected, Missouri Department of Transportation has advised folks to find different paths of travel during the demolition. Traffic on I-55 itself isn't getting snarled up by this, thankfully, with all lanes set to stay open throughout the weekend's work.
According to Missouri Department of Transportation, the demolition work is a foundation-laying phase, crucial for advancing ongoing infrastructure improvements in the area. So while the construction ballet unfolds below, with old concrete giving way to controlled collapse, the lifeblood of commute above continues to flow uninterrupted — a juxtaposition of destruction and continuity playing out in real-time.
Missouri Department of Transportation isn't leaving anyone to blindly navigate the maze of detours. Signage is set to clearly mark alternative routes to help drivers to avoid the closure area. While these signed detours are intended to guide, local drivers might just have to temporarily find new, perhaps even more scenic, routes to their weekend destinations. "Motorist and pedestrians are encouraged to use alternative routes during the weekend closure," states their official notice, reminding us that the arteries of our city's transit are, for a brief moment, subject to the surgeon's scalpel.
Weather, of course, holds a fickle hand over such operations, with all plans being subject to the mercy of Mother Nature.
