Like many other highways in American cities today, I-70’s elevated lanes cut through downtown St. Louis, acting as a barrier between the riverfront and downtown.  While there have been calls for the removal of I-70’s elevated lanes in the past, the anticipated opening of the new Mississippi River bridge in 2014 has prompted Alderman Scott Ogilvie to raise the issue at a Board of Alderman’s meeting last week.   He introduced a resolution in which he asked the board, “to work toward the removal of the elevated lanes of Interstate 70 and their replacement by a suitable at-grade roadway upon the opening of the new Mississippi River bridge.”

Although the resolution will still have to pass through the Transportation Committee’s voting process before it will be considered by the Missouri Department of Transportation, Ogilvie insists that the important thing is to get people talking as the new Mississippi River bridge is expected to dramatically alter traffic flow in downtown St. Louis.

Ogilvie’s resolution has thus far won the support of City to River, an “all-volunteer citizens group” that has been working to encourage the city to “revisit unintended consequences of the interstate” through its removal since 2009.

Click here to learn more about the resolution.

Photo by Riverfront Times.