U.S. Route 61

Route 61 is a north-south highway that runs through St. Louis. It extends from New Orleans, Louisiana in the south, to Wyoming, Minnesota in the north. Route 61 is also referred to as the "Blues Highway" due to the number of cities along it's route that have made significant contributions to the blues music scene

Recent and Future Activity

There is ongoing construction to upgrade U.S. 61 (where it is multiplexed with U.S. 40) to a controlled-access freeway[1]. The current freeway ends at Route K just west of Weldon Spring and the construction will upgrade U.S. 61 to a freeway to Interstate 70 at Wentzville. When construction is finished, this freeway also will be signed as Interstate 64[2].
U.S. 61 between Wentzville and Wayland are planned to be gradually widened and upgraded to expressway status [3][4]. It is unclear whether the entire length will ever be upgraded to freeway status, although it is expected that the entire highway will be 4 lanes wide to the Missouri-Iowa border by 2008. As of 2006, the route is expected only to be a freeway as bypasses around towns. This route will eventually form a part of a more direct route from St. Louis, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Waterloo, Iowa to Saint Paul, Minnesota as part of the Avenue of the Saints [5].