Missouri Route 141

Highway 141 is a highway located in the western St. Louis metropolitan area. Its northern terminus is at Route 370 in Bridgeton; its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 61/U.S. Route 67 in Arnold, in Jefferson County. The northern stretches of the highway are often referred to as the Maryland Heights Expressway or Earth City Expressway.

Route 141
Route information
Maintained by MoDOT
Length	30.902 mi[1] (49.732 km)
Major junctions
South end	US 61 / US 67 in Arnold
	I-55 in Arnold I-44 / US 50 in Fenton I-64 / US 40 / US 61 in Town & Country Route 364 in Maryland Heights I-70 in Maryland Heights
North end	Route 370 in Bridgeton
Location
Counties	Jefferson, St. Louis
Highway system
Missouri State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Supplemental ← Route 139 → Route 142

Route description

For the majority of its duration, Route 141 is a divided highway with four to eight lanes.

Jefferson County

In Jefferson County, Route 141 is a four-lane highway. It has a southern terminus at U.S. Route 61/U.S. Route 67 in Arnold. At this point, it is an at-grade route with business driveways and traffic lights. It continues northwest and has an interchange with I-55. After the interchange, it becomes a rural highway with two lanes on each side with a wide median. The route has another interchange with the Route 21 freeway. It continues north and crosses the county line into Fenton in St. Louis County. [2]

St. Louis County

Route 141 enters St. Louis County in Fenton. It has an interchange with Route 30 and widens into a six to eight lane, partial access expressway. Heading north, there is a plaza to the left that includes various fast food restaurants, including St. Louis Bread Company, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut. After the plaza, Route 141 has at-grade interchanges with several collector roads.The highway heads northeast and has an interchange with Interstate 44 in Valley Park. The highway meets its northern terminus after the interchange with Route 370 at Missouri Bottom Road.

History

Old Highway 141 was a two-lane road built in the 1930s. The idea of an newer, divided highway carrying the Route 141 designation dates to the 1970s, when regional highway planners adopted the idea of an "outer belt" west of I-270.[3] In 1976, Frank Kriz, then the district state highway engineer, called 141 an "old ridge-runner." The highways had traffic jams due to suburban growth. That same year, construction began for a new, four-lane Highway 141 in Jefferson County. Subsequent progress included a new bridge over the Meramec River at Valley Park in 1986 and a new interchange at Manchester Road in 1999. The section of Route 141 between Interstate 64 and the St. Louis County/Jefferson County line was upgraded to six lanes in a project completed in 2003.[3]

Extension

In August, 2012, a six-lane realignment opened between Ladue Road and Page Avenue (Route 364), with interchanges at Ladue, Olive (Route 340), and Page. The section between Page and Olive (tentatively titled the Page-Olive Connector), which was constructed by St. Louis County has been turned over to the Missouri Department of Transportation and designated as Route 141. Maryland Heights Expressway (the section from Page north to I-70) and Earth City Expressway (the section from I-70 north to its terminus at Route 370) have also been designated as 141. As such, Route 141 now runs from US 61/67 in Arnold to Route 370 in Bridgeton.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in cooperation with the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic (DHT) expanded Route 141. 1 between just south of Ladue Road (Route AB) to Olive Road (Route 340). DHT extended Route 141 from Olive Road to the Page Avenue Extension (Route 364) at the Maryland Heights Expressway which links to the Earth City Expressway which continues north to Route 370 where it then turns into Missouri Bottom Road via Aubuchon Road. SPUIs were constructed at Ladue Road and Olive Blvd. There were some construction constraints with the part of the project between Olive and Page. DHT held studies of the environment to decide how to maneuver construction without disturbing some of the native wetlands in the corridor.[4] During heavy rain, the current intersection at Creve Coeur Mill Road and Olive has the potential to flood, and most of the area along Creve Coeur Mill Road are either wetlands or farmland that lies in a flood plain.

St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley had called the project "one of St. Louis County's largest and most important infrastructure improvements this decade." The economic impact of the construction project was not nearly as massive as the upgrading and realignment project on Interstate 64/Highway 40. This construction project was estimated to have a $20 billion economic impact and create over 170,000 jobs during this current decade. [5]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Jefferson	Arnold	0.000	0.000	US 61 / US 67 (Jeffco Boulevard)	Southern terminus at an at-grade intersection
		0.379	0.610	I-55 – St. Louis, Cape Girardeau	Hybrid interchange (SPUI and diamond); exit 191 on I-55
		3.585	5.769	Route 21 – St. Louis, Hillsboro	Diamond interchange
St. Louis	Fenton	7.583	12.204	Route 30 – St. Louis, St. Clair	Diamond interchange
		11.127	17.907	I-44 / US 50 – St. Louis, Rolla	Exit 272 on I-44 / US 50
		11.278	18.150	North Outer Road	Interchange
	Twin Oaks	13.255	21.332	Big Bend Road	SPUI
	Manchester	15.137	24.361	Route 100 / Lewis and Clark Trail (Manchester Road)	SPUI built in 1999
	Town & Country	17.456	28.093	Clayton Road	Hybrid Trumpet Interchange
		18.213	29.311	Salt Mill Road / South Outer Forty Drive	Interchange with traffic circles
		18.665	30.038	I-64 / US 40 / US 61 – St. Louis, Wentzville	Exit 22 on I-64 / US 40 / US 61.
	Chesterfield	19.974	32.145	Route AB (Ladue Road)	SPUI. Northern Extension begins
		21.611	34.780	Route 340 (Olive Boulevard)	SPUI
	Maryland Heights	23.563	37.921	Route 364 – St. Louis, St. Charles	Exit 17 on Route 364
		27.983	45.034	I-70 – St. Louis, Kansas City	Cloverleaf interchange; exit 231 on I-70
	Bridgeton	29.709	47.812	St. Charles Rock Road	At-grade-intersection
		30.763	49.508	Route 370 – St. Louis, St. Charles	Northern terminus at a diamond interchange; exit 9 on Route 370
		30.902	49.732	Missouri Bottom Road north	Continuation beyond northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

1. Missouri Department of Transportation (March 19, 2015). MoDOT HPMAPS (Map). Missouri Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
2. https://www.google.com/maps/place/MO-141,+Arnold,+MO/@38.4396423,-90.418847,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x87d8cd796cc4820b:0x5f6eec8841e81974!8m2!3d38.4395803!4d-90.3838274
3. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/last-link-of-highway-in-west-st-louis-county-to/article_be29d300-dd28-5f6d-841d-a0c0a403df49.html Retrieved 4-7-2020
4. "Page to Olive Connector Study". St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
5. https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/10/13/daily42.html