UPDATE: Daily Slowdowns, Traffic Stops Begin Feb. 18 for Boone Bridge Work

Updated with a new start date at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

As if traversing the narrow Daniel Boone Bridge wasn't harrowing enough...

Starting Feb. 18, the Missouri Department of Transportation will stop traffic across the bridge once a day in order to blast away nearby rocks as part of the department's reconstruction work on the span.

The department had originally planned the shutdowns to start Monday, but wet conditions this week have slowed the work to prepare for the blasting originally scheduled to start Monday.

Starting Feb. 18, the once-a-day bridge closures will take about 10 minutes and will occur at either 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. every day, beginning Monday, for approximately one month.

The department says traffic "will be slowed and potentially stopped."

The blasting will occur adjacent to the eastbound lanes of I-64 at the St Charles County end of the bridge. Authorities will slow eastbound traffic starting at the Route 94 interchange.

Westbound traffic will be slowed starting at the Boone's Crossing interchange.

KATY Trail users will also be stopped on the trail adjacent to the bridge.

MoDOT says the blasting is needed to build a new "shared use path" connecting the KATY Trail to the new eastbound bridge on the St Charles County end of the bridge. 

The new eastbound bridge will open in late 2014. In 2015, the existing eastbound bridge will be rehabilitated. By the end of 2015, westbound I-64 traffic will be moved to that span.