The Improve I-70 third lane expansion project is now officially underway in St. Charles and Warren Counties after a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Foristell. St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann looks back on how infrastructure investments similar to this one have helped the County grow.
"Seventy years ago we had three lanes of traffic across the Missouri [River] into St. Charles County, now we got 21" Ehlmann adds "I-70, when I first ran for office, was a parking lot over in Earth City."
Ehlmann is excited to see the Wentzville bottleneck alleviated for the rest of the county.
"17% of people that go through the bottleneck actually get off at one of the next three exits in Charles County"
Happening at the same time is an improvement project to I-64. Ehlmann acknowledges the construction happening all together will be painful, for a time.
"Short term, unpopular decision, but in the long term, by doing it all at one time it's gonna be a tough 18, 24 months but we're gonna get it all done."
This stretch of the Improve I-70 project from Warrenton to Wentzville and costs $600 million.