February 22, 2018
Engineers Week: The Express Highway through the city of St. Louis
Hymen Shifrin began a long-standing relationship with the Missouri State Highway Department (now MoDOT)
Shortly after the founding of their civil engineering firm Horner & Shifrin, Consulting Engineers in August 1933, Wesley Horner and Hymen Shifrin began leveraging their expertise and relationships in the St. Louis area to win work. With experience as a junior engineer working for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Assistant Chief Engineer for the City of St. Louis, Shifrin quickly won a consulting contract with the Missouri State Highway Department. The assignment – design for the Oakland Express Highway (also known as the Daniel Boone Parkway), the precursor to I-64 adjacent to Forest Park. Photos of the Oakland Express Highway circa 1937 can be seen below. Fun fact: structural engineers at Horner & Shifrin were responsible for the new structures carrying Taylor, Newstead, Tower Grove and Boyle over I-64, more than 75 years after the construction of the original overpasses!
