I-70 Archives - Missourinet

MoDOT to begin major I-70 project at east-central Missouri’s Mineola Hill next week

June 29, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says the massive project to replace the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge in mid-Missouri is still in the planning phases. MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna says the agency is making good progress on a related project to build one-point-two miles of truck climbing lanes on I-70 at east-central Missouri’s Mineola Hill.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says work will begin on July 6 to add a third lane to both eastbound and westbound I-70 at Mineola Hill in Montgomery County (fall 2019 file photo courtesy of MoDOT)

“And we’re hoping by the end of the calendar year, we’re actually going to have a climbing lane at Mineola Hill,” McKenna says.

In 2019, MoDOT received an $81 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant for the I-70 Rocheport bridge replacement and for the I-70 Mineola Hill truck climbing lanes. MoDOT says the Mineola Hill climbing lanes will generate safety and mobility benefits for both cars and trucks that travel at different speeds along that segment of I-70, which is in Montgomery County.

MoDOT says work will begin next Monday to add a third lane to both eastbound and westbound I-70 at Mineola Hill. MoDOT crews will be on-site to begin setting traffic control, as well as setting erosion control.

“We have substantial additional work on environmental work and engineering, before we get to the point of putting out an RFP for construction services on that,” says McKenna.

Construction at Mineola Hill is expected to be done by next fall. Columbia-based Emery Sapp and Sons is the prime contractor, and Barlett and West is handling design services.

As for the I-70 bridge in Rocheport, more than 12 million vehicles cross it every year. That includes three million trucks.

“And that equals to about 100 million tons of freight, which equals more than $154 billion annually so many trucks,” U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, told Missourinet in 2019.

Rocheport, which is just west of Columbia, is in Congresswoman Hartzler’s district. The current Rocheport bridge is 60 years old, and MoDOT says it’s in poor condition.

Snow-related crashes close westbound I-70 near mid-Missouri’s Rocheport (AUDIO)

January 20, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The National Weather Service (NWS) says the highest snow totals from Monday’s winter storm extend from the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit to Sedalia.

The National Weather Service is urging motorists to slow down in the snow (January 20, 2020 map courtesy of NWS Pleasant Hill Twitter page)

NWS Pleasant Hill meteorologist Sarah Adkins says while snow is ending north of the Missouri River, it’s still snowing in many locations across western, west-central and mid-Missouri.

“We’re seeing the Kansas City area over to Warrensburg and Sedalia into Columbia, Jefferson City and again down into the Lake of the Ozarks and over west in Clinton,” Adkins says.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol also says highways in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in the Kansas City metro have been slick, because of snow. Blowing snow has also been causing visibility issues.

Meantime, the Highway Patrol says about a dozen vehicles are involved in several snow-related crashes on westbound I-70 near mid-Missouri’s Rocheport. Several tractor trailers are involved, and westbound I-70 is closed there.

The I-70 Rocheport bridge is heavily-traveled. U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, has said more than 12 million vehicles cross the bridge annually, including three million trucks.

Rocheport is just west of Columbia.

As for Adkins, she’s urging motorists to slow down and to give themselves extra time.

“It is accumulating on the roadways and that is going to make them slick,” says Adkins. “So while we don’t anticipate multiple inches of snow, still take it easy. It’s going to be slick.”

Some areas have received an inch of snowfall. Missouri state troopers are urging you to stay focused on the road.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with National Weather Service (NWS) Pleasant Hill meteorologist Sarah Adkins, which was recorded on January 20, 2020:

Toll roads are “dead on arrival” with key Missouri lawmaker in 2020 (AUDIO)

December 29, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

(This is the second story in Brian Hauswirth’s two-part series about Missouri transportation)

The chairman of Missouri’s Senate Transportation Committee says toll roads are “dead on arrival” with him and are a non-starter. The opposition from State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, is significant because any toll road legislation would have to go before his committee.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on January 10, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Senate photographer Harrison Sweazea)

Libla has looked at states that have tolls.

“You know people talk about how good Oklahoma’s roads are and the fact that they have 17-cents a gallon (state gasoline tax), which is the same as ours,” Libla says. “But what everybody leaves out, just about everywhere you drive (in Oklahoma) you have to drive on a toll road. So you still have to buy gas and pay tolls.”

Missouri voters rejected toll roads at the ballot box in 1970 and again in 1992. Chairman Libla says it’s too late to try to toll aging I-70 across Missouri.

“Interstate 70, we have lost our exemption now to toll that road from the federal government, so we can’t toll it anyway. Now you can build a new toll road.”

But Libla opposes that, saying the state owns its transportation assets. He instead has filed legislation to raise Missouri’s gas tax from 17 to 19-cents per gallon. He tells Missourinet state lawmakers can raise it on their own, adding they have a fiduciary duty to do it on their own.

His proposal, which is Senate Bill 539, would also increase the tax on diesel fuel from 17 to 23-cents per gallon. Libla’s legislation would also adjust the taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel annually for inflation.

He predicts his proposal would raise about $144 million annually for transportation. Libla also says we’ve funded roads and bridges for 95 years in Missouri with a gas tax.

While Missouri has the nation’s seventh-largest highway system with 34,000 miles of roadway, it ranks 49th in funding. Missouri’s gas tax has remained the same since 1996. It was part of a bipartisan 1992 agreement between former Governor John Ashcroft (R) and former House Speaker Bob Griffin, D-Cameron.

Missouri voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase in November 2018. Libla says the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is dipping into reserves for federal matching funds. He praises the work MoDOT has done, with the resources they are given.

MoDOT has said that congestion in St. Louis and Kansas City and along Interstates 44 and 70 in Missouri is causing an annual economic loss of $575 million.

Click here to read the first story in Brian Hauswirth’s transportation series.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee Chairman Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, which was recorded on December 10, 2019:

Missouri lawmaker on bridge funding plan: We’ve maxed out the MoDOT credit card

May 2, 2019 By Ashley Byrd

Senate President Pro-Tem Dave Schatz presents SS#2 SCR 14 before the House Budget Committee this morning. Courtesy Tim Bommel, House Communications

Lawmakers from both parties agree that bridges need fixing across Missouri. However, opinions quickly diverge on how to pay for it.

Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, presented his chamber’s plans to the House Budget Committee. The Senate version of a transportation funding plan borrows $301 million in bonds and uses an unspecified amount of money from general revenue to finance the bonds for bridge repair and replacement. The plan is contingent on getting a specific federal (INFRA) grant for up to $172 million dollars to replace the I-70 Missouri River bridge near Rocheport, which has been downgraded to poor condition.

The bridge is a major connector for cross country trucking and travel across the U.S.

Since voters rejected a statewide proposition to fund roads and bridges through a gas tax, legislators have struggled with a funding solution to maintain the nation’s seventh largest state highway systems, yet the nation’s 48th nationally in revenue per mile.

Sen. Schatz says only the “critical nature of this bridge,” makes him support bonding and using general revenue. Gov. Mike Parson introduced bonding for bridge repair in his January State of the State address.

“The right thing to do for transportation, that we’ve done for 95 years, is to do a good motor fuel tax,” Schatz told the House panel. “Either the Legislature is going to have the political courage to increase the fuel tax or we’re going to have to sell that message to the constituents that we represent in order to address that because 30 to 40 cents of every dollar that we collect comes from people who do not live in Missouri and I do not think general revenue, long-term, all Missouri residents shouldn’t be paying for the full fare.”

And MoDOT is tapped out and working from borrowed money. Between the years 2000 and 2010, the agency ran up $4 billion in debt. Since then, no further debt was accrued and McKenna and others have taken that debt down to $1.616 billion by this June. McKenna sees this new bonding as “strategic and targeted” because of low interest rates and says it buys the state some time to come up with more funding solutions.

Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, reviews bridge budget during committee. Razer served on the bipartisan 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force. Photo Tim Bommel, House Communications

Kansas City Representative Greg Razer called for the Legislature to figure out a long-term way to pay for roads and bridges. He summed up the dilemma for House members:

“We’ve maxed out the MoDOT credit card so now we’re going to the general revenue credit card and saying ‘we’ve got to fix this bridge’ and believe me, I 100-percent agree that bridge has to be fixed,” Razer told his colleagues. “This is frustrating to me because I’m in a position now of what I consider two bad votes. I vote ‘yes’ and I’m voting to put us more into debt and opening up the Pandora’s box of GR (general revenue). I vote ‘no’ and we have eight-hour backups on I-70.”

House Budget Chairman Cody Smith’s own version of bridge repair funding allocated $100 million from general revenue.

To wrap up this hearing, he cautioned Director McKenna (and perhaps the governor) not to “pigeonhole the Legislature” in the future.

“I would just ask that in future (grant) applications you not be prescriptive to what the General Assembly may or may not do to finance these projects or to raise the amount needed to pull down federal grants. Because after all, we are writing the checks for the ventures that you are launching into,” Smith said.

MoDOT expects to get a decision on the federal grant in September or October.

If you’re heading to the Cardinals-Royals series this weekend, MoDOT suggests avoiding I-70 West

May 21, 2015 By Bill Pollock

Expect delays just west of the Hwy 65 exit on westbound I-70 this weekend (photo/MoDOT)

The Missouri Department of Transportation warns motorists heading westbound on Interstate 70 in western Missouri over the Memorial Day weekend to be prepared for long delays.

Due to a bridge deck replacement on I-70 at the Blackwater River bridge in Saline County, (just west of the Sedalia/Marshall exit, 78), westbound traffic is reduced to one lane. In recent weekends, motorists have been experiencing an hour delay in this work zone near mile marker 77.

MoDOT suggests either using Route 50 or Route 36 as alternate routes to westbound I-70 if you are heading to Kansas City for the weekend for the Cardinals, Royals series or returning home from the Lake of the Ozarks.

Motorists can check real-time travel delays online at MoDOT’s Traveler Information map or call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636).