Missouri Department of Transportation

Ed Hassinger is replacing director Patrick McKenna, who left in September.

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.

The 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 Missouri Department of Transportation approved an Adopt-a-Highway application from the family of Kevin Johnson, who was executed in November 2022 for the killing of a Kirkwood Police Officer. The sign was up for four months before the entire program got suspended.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says it hired at least 100 new employees to drive snowplows after having a shortage of drivers last winter season.

Missouri lawmakers allocated roughly $2.8 billion in May to expand Interstate 70 to three lanes both ways across the state. The entire project is expected to take around seven years.

Missouri Republicans have vowed to take action when the General Assembly reconvenes in January to revise the highway commission’s power over the state road fund.

The recommendations in the report are for safety improvements to the state’s three passenger rail lines. They come a little more than one year after a train-truck crash killed four people.

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 Senate appropriations chief is floating a bond-funded plan to beef up a Interstate 70 project to add new lanes across the state.