St. Louis Highway Project Yields Recyclable Material

Roadwork on Highway 40 (Interstate 64) through St. Louis is expected to generate hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete and asphalt for recycling, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Work on the stretch of roadway began Jan. 2 and is part of a $535 million project to rebuild most of the 10.5 miles of highway between Ballas Road and Kingshighway, according to the report.

So far, workers have removed 18,600 tons of asphalt and 23,000 tons of concrete. A total of 400,000 tons of material is expected to be recycled from the project. The material will be used as pavement base in some cases and backfill in others, according to the report.

The closed section must be reopened by later this year. The section between I-170 and Kingshighway will then be closed with a reopening schedule of late 2009. Landscaping will continue through 2010.