Interstate 70

Ed Hassinger is replacing director Patrick McKenna, who left in September. MoDOT is in the middle of a project expanding Interstate 70 to three lanes in both directions.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is expanding I-70 to three lanes each way, with the first 20-mile section expected to be completed by the end of 2027. More than 40,000 vehicles travel between Kansas City and St. Louis each day.

Nearly 200 people died in Kansas City car crashes in 2022 and 2023. The numbers suggest that high speeds and intersections, particularly on Truman Road, pose the greatest danger.

The construction project is carved up into segments. The first section tackled will be a 20-mile stretch in mid-Missouri between Columbia and Kingdom City.

The $2.8 billion project will expand Interstate 70 to three lanes in each direction across the state.

Included in the budget passed by lawmakers this session and signed by Gov. Mike Parson in June was around $2.8 billion to expand I-70 to three lanes in each direction. On Wednesday, commissioners approved the first steps of acquiring that money.

The drafted timeline for I-70 construction would start in August, on the stretch of highway between Columbia and Kingdom City moving east-bound, and complete in 2030. Missouri's latest budget allocated $2.8 billion to the project, the largest on the interstate since it opened.

The budget includes a $2.8 billion plan to fully expand Interstate 70 to three lanes in each direction, funding for teacher raises as well as money for public libraries. It also has $50 million to go toward stadium improvements for the World Cup in Kansas City.

The Senate’s plan to go beyond the $860 million initially proposed to expand Interstate 70 remained in the budget agreed to by a Senate-House conference committee Wednesday night. Other Senate positions that remained were state funding for public libraries and the elimination of anti-DEI language in the budget.

The Senate plan would spend nearly $2.8 billion to expand the entire interstate to three lanes each way.

Gov. Mike Parson requested $859 million from the Missouri legislature to widen three sections of Interstate 70, including from Blue Springs to Odessa. But House Budget Committee chair Cody Smith says there's little chance of federal aid for the project.

In addition to proposing cuts to the lawmakers' priorities, Missouri House Budget Chairman Cody Smith, a Republican from Carthage, wants to cut all aid to libraries in retaliation for a lawsuit challenging a new state law.