The opening of the new Telegraph Road bridge over Interstate 255 was scheduled to be celebrated earlier this week by the Missouri Department of Transportation and its contractor, St. Louis Bridge Inc.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was planned Tuesday — after the Call went to press — in front of the National City Bank branch on Telegraph Road and Kinswood Lane at the southwest corner of the interchange.

The new bridge opened May 1 to traffic and is part of a $7.1 million bridge reconstruction project to replace the two bridges over I-255 with one bridge and improve interchange flow.

One bridge was built in the late 1940s and the other in the early 1950s.

The improvements include a double-loop ramp from northbound Telegraph Road to westbound I-255 and also will add an additional lane on westbound I-255 from Telegraph to near Lemay Ferry Road.