Today is the day.
After the morning rush hour, the westbound driving lane of the U.S. 50/63 Rex Whitton Expressway will be closed at 9 a.m. over Lafayette Street - and will stay closed for about the next eight weeks.
The inside passing lane will remain open, leaving one westbound lane available. Lane closures earlier this week in the area were temporary, but this one will be lengthy.
State transportation officials encourage motorists to find alternate routes. They expect traffic congestion especially for peak traffic flows in the morning, MoDOT Resident Engineer Terry Imhoff told the News Tribune.
Officials think congestion also could be a problem during the evening peak travel.
Also at 9 a.m. today, the westbound on-ramp from Clark Avenue to the expressway will be closed, and Lafayette Street between Elm and East Dunklin streets - just south of the expressway - will be closed to traffic for the next year or so.
Starting at 6 a.m. Thursday, the westbound off-ramp from U.S. 50/63 to Lafayette Street will be opened to traffic - for those who want to go north on Lafayette.
All of the work is part of the $20.3 million project to add a diamond interchange between Lafayette Street and the highway, add exit and on-ramp lanes to the expressway and improve several bridges between Monroe Street and Clark Avenue - including the already-completed Chestnut Street overpass.
The project is to be finished by the end of next year.
Imhoff said part of the work involves lowering the expressway about 5 feet, and that work begins with closing the westbound outside, driving lane.
In about eight weeks - in mid- to late September, assuming the weather cooperates - both westbound lanes will be closed while the current bridge deck over Lafayette Street and Wears Creek is lowered and replaced.
By then, the westbound on-ramp from Lafayette should be completed, and westbound U.S. 50/63 traffic will use the off-ramp and on-ramp at Lafayette as the driving lanes.
After the westbound side of the overpass is finished, Imhoff said, it will be used to carry the eastbound expressway traffic while the current eastbound overpass lanes are replaced with a new, lower deck - and the westbound motorists will continue using the ramps as their part of the highway.
Electronic message boards have been placed along the route to inform motorists of the road closures associated with the work.
Jefftran modifications
Because of the closures, the Jefferson City Transit System, Jefftran, announced some changes to several bus routes:
• When leaving the Transfer Station at 820 E. Miller St., the "Missouri Boulevard" and "Southwest" buses will be going to East Dunklin Street.
• The "Business 50 East," "High Street East" and "High Street West" buses will go to East McCarty Street to start their routes.
• The "Business 50 East" route will return to the Transfer Station along East Dunklin Street to Chestnut Street.