Group Succeeds in Brief, Peaceful Shutdown of I-70

Last week we told you how the African-American Business and Contractors Association's planned to shutdown Interstate 70 as a way to protest what they say is a lack of black contractors hired for road construction jobs in Missouri and Illinois.

In making its announcement, the group noted that its planned shutdown for Monday would come nearly ten years to the day that a similar demonstration on the interstate led to the arrest of the Rev. Al Sharpton and more than 100 other protesters. Unlike that demonstration, AABCA said this year's protest would be peaceful and they did not anticipate any arrests.

As you can see from the video below, the group used two pickup trucks to bring traffic to a one-minute standstill in downtown St. Louis late Monday afternoon.



The Post-Dispatch reports this morning that the drivers of the pickups were later ticketed for "impeding the flow of traffic." Other than that, police issued no other citations to the 16 demonstrators who picketed above the interstate on the Chestnut Street overpass.