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ST. LOUIS — Upcoming construction work on Interstate 44 means more closures and headaches for commuters.

The Missouri Department of Transportation next week expects to begin reducing lanes of I-44 near Jefferson Avenue.

The construction project will replace the westbound and eastbound I-44 bridges over Jefferson Avenue.

The schedule for the $16.5 million project depends a lot on weather, but the hope is have the work finished by the end of the year, said Andrew Gates, a spokesman for the transportation department’s ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ district.

Here is a rundown of upcoming lane closures:

• On Monday, the right lane of westbound I-44 will be closed at Jefferson between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. Crews will be working on the shoulder there. At 6 a.m. Monday, the ramp from Lafayette Avenue to westbound I-44 will close for the year.

• On Tuesday, the ramp from northbound Interstate 55 to westbound I-44 will close, starting at 7 p.m. Then, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, crews will close the left lane on the westbound I-44 ramp. The ramps will reopen at 5 a.m. Wednesday, but westbound I-44 traffic will have only two lanes. Also, drivers on the northbound I-55 ramp won’t have access to Jefferson through the end of the year. MoDOT said they should exit on Lafayette or Grand instead.

• Tuesday night through Friday night, 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night, crews will begin placing a barrier wall to shift eastbound traffic onto the westbound lanes. During that time, traffic will detour to Truman.

More closures will come during reconstruction.

Several other ramps will close for about a month each, MoDOT said. Traffic will shift onto the westbound side until late June for the first portion of the project to replace the eastbound bridge. In June, traffic will move to the newly completed eastbound bridge through December, according to a news release from MoDOT.