The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to reopen Interstate 44 through downtown St. Louis on Friday afternoon after completing emergency repairs to stabilize a bridge column exposed by the recent cave-in of a street under the interstate.
The stretch of I-44 between the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Poplar Street Bridge has been closed since June 13, when an approximately 30-foot-long hole opened beneath the interstate near Biddle Street and North Broadway after water and sewer line failures.
During the closure, MoDOT maintenance crews completed additional improvements to the area, including repairing median barrier walls, replacing bridge joint seals, making bridge deck repairs, cleaning draining systems, removing vegetation, sweeping shoulders and covering graffiti…