Lanes on Poplar Street Bridge scheduled to fully reopen on Saturday

Crews are scheduled to reopen the ramp from westbound Interstate 64 to southbound Interstate 55 in St. Louis by 2 p.m. Saturday, the Missouri Department of Transportation said.

Crews also will reopen the two lanes closed on the westbound Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River at the same time, MoDOT said.

To do that, the department must have three lanes closed on the Poplar Street Bridge starting at 8 p.m. Friday to remove the barrier wall along the bridge, MoDOT said. All lanes, and the new ramp to southbound I-55, are scheduled to be reopened by 2 p.m.Saturday.

Once the ramp and lanes reopen Saturday, crews will close the ramp from South Memorial Drive to southbound I-55/westbound I-44. That ramp will remain closed until late August so crews can complete rebuilding the ramp. The stretch of South Memorial between Walnut and Spruce streets will remain open to traffic, MoDOT said. Downtown drivers who want to head south on I-55 or west on I-44 will need to use the Washington ramp to get onto the interstate.

With the lanes reopening on the PSB, a full closure of the Martin Luther King Bridge can take place. That bridge deck is slated to be replaced, among other things, during a four-and-a-half month project. That closure is expected to go into place on Monday, the Illinois Department of Transportation has said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Lanes on Poplar Street Bridge scheduled to fully reopen on Saturday."