Local officials recognized the $1.6 billion project would be problematic to fund and have reduced the costs and scope of the project in a "Re-evaluation" exercise (Re-evaluation, Briefing to Regional Business Council, 2005-10-19, by New Mississippi Bridge Project, PowerPoint).
The cost of the bridge itself has been reduced from $476 million to $396 million by shortening the main span from 2,000 feet to 1,500 feet. This puts the piers in the river, though not far from the shore on each side. The single-inclined pylons soaring 435 feet above the bridge deck in the 2001 design have been replaced by simple twin delta towers 331 feet high. The traffic decks remain six lanes in each direction, planned as four 12-foot lanes with breakdown shoulders on the left and right sides. The Missouri North Interchange to the immediate west of the bridge is being simplified; local street crossings are being combined, and the parkway entry into St Louis reduced for a total savings of $66 million. On the Illinois side, savings include reductions at the Cahokia Canal, simpler interchange design and other "value engineering" for economies of $26 million. Overall cost cutting totals $212 million out of about $1.6b or 13% bringing the project down to about $1.4 billion.
Other savings have been achieved in the re-evaluation by omitting major portions of the former project, now to be completed separately. These include the Illinois Route 3 Relocation ($160 million), the I-64 Connector ($63 million), the Tri-Level Interchange of I-70/I-64/I-55 ($251 million), and the Poplar Street Approaches ($81 million). The project, therefore, saves over $600 million by scope changes - putting former portions of the project outside it and reducing it to about $910 million.