Motorists will have more direct access to Missouri Research Park and the

Missouri Bluffs Golf Club by using a new westbound Highway 40 off-ramp that

will open today.

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning, Missouri Department of

Transportation workers are to have the new ramp open for the afternoon rush

hour.

The $1.7-million project features a four-point roundabout that joins the end of

the new ramp at Technology Drive and Meadows Parkway. The roundabout, partly

opened previously, will give westbound Highway 40 drivers a direct route to the

Research Park Circle overpass, Missouri Research Park and the golf course,

department officials noted Monday.

Expected to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new ramp are: Mayor

Dick Licklider; state Rep. Joe Smith, R-St. Charles County; officials of the

Department of Transportation and St. Charles County; and representatives of

Rep. Kenny Hulshof, Sen. Jim Talent and Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, all R-Mo.

J.R.W. Construction Inc. is the contractor for the project, which is a

partnership of the state, the county and businesses at the research park.

Traffic planners say roundabouts can be a safe and fast way to move vehicles

through congested areas. More of the circular traffic-control installations are

getting built in the county.

The Missouri Department of Transportation recently announced plans for two

roundabouts within a quarter mile of each other on Prospect Road, near the

border of Wentzville and Lake Saint Louis.

The roundabouts will be built on either side of Highway 40 to handle both a

four-point intersection on the south side and five-legged intersection on the

north.

The work will be done when the Department of Transportation constructs a

cloverleaf overpass there as part of its effort to upgrade the highway to

interstate status.

tbryant@post-dispatch.com 636-255-7212