St. Louis' Eads Bridge to close for repairs

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Commuters using one of the Mississippi River bridges linking St. Louis to Illinois will have to find an alternate crossing as maintenance work is expected to close the span for more than a month.

The Eads Bridge closed Monday for 40 days of repairs to its deck and expansion joints.

Officials are urging commuters who've relied on the Eads to use the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge to the north or the Poplar Street Bridge to the south.

A new, four-lane bridge is being built near the Eads to ease congestion at one of the nation's busiest crossings. The $670 million bridge is expected to be completed by the middle part of this decade.