Interstate 170 (I-170), also known as the Inner Belt Expressway, is an north–south
Interstate Highway
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
in
Greater St. Louis
Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...
,
Missouri. I-170 connects to
I-270 I-270 may refer to:
* Interstate 270 (disambiguation), one of several highways
* Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270
The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 (Design Ж ("Zh") under Mikoyan-Gurevich's in-house designation sequence, USAF/DoD designation: Type 12) was a ...
at its northern terminus and
I-64 at its southern terminus. I-170 crosses its parent,
I-70, near
St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Route description
History
I-170 was originally intended to provide an
inner beltway An innerbelt or outerbelt is a ring road or collection of roadways which is or implies that it is inner or outer ring road in relation to another ring road. Use of these terms is most common and near-exclusive to routes in the United States, mostly ...
within I-270 through
St. Louis County extending to
I-55 in the southern part of the county, commonly called South County; however, the portion of the route south of I-64/
U.S. Route 40 (US 40) was canceled due to
local opposition. The portion of
MetroLink's Cross County Extension south of I-64 runs roughly along the proposed alignment.
The southern portion of I-170 was built using St. Louis County funds in the 1960s through a shallow valley. It was signed as Route 725.
Recent construction
The southern two interchanges on I-170 (at I-64/US 40 and Galleria Parkway) were reconstructed as part of the first phase of the New I-64 project. Most notably, the new interchange includes direct access to I-170 from eastbound I-64; however, access to Galleria Parkway from northbound I-170 was eliminated. Eager Road access to and from I-170 was also revised in the New I-64 project.
Southern extension
Because I-170 terminates at
I-64/
US 40, a direct access from I-170 and I-64 (US 40) to
I-55,
I-270 I-270 may refer to:
* Interstate 270 (disambiguation), one of several highways
* Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270
The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 (Design Ж ("Zh") under Mikoyan-Gurevich's in-house designation sequence, USAF/DoD designation: Type 12) was a ...
, and
I-44 are lacked. Also, towns such as
Richmond Heights,
Brentwood,
Maplewood, and
Marlbourough lack access to the Interstates, the
St. Louis Lambert International Airport, South County, and to each other. Because of this, commuters either have to take indirect surface streets as bypasses, such as Hanley Road or River Des Peres Boulevard, which would result in a much higher mileage and time due to
traffic signals and a longer route. For example, if one is in Richmond Heights and wants to get to South County, they have to take Brentwood Boulevard to Eager Road to Hanley Road to Murdoch Avenue to I-44 and then to I-270 toward South County. This also results in higher traffic in residential streets and towns such as
Shrewsbury. Proposals had been made to solve this problem, such as a new freeway for faster commute or "South County Connector" to connect
Richmond Heights to South County, but these proposals had been postponed due to lack of funding.
Exit list
References
External links
Kurumi.com: Interstate 170
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Transportation in St. Louis County, Missouri