On Wednesday, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded Milestone Weber the first contract to expand Interstate 70.
Milestone Weber will be responsible for the expansion of a 20-mile stretch of highway between Columbia and Kingdom City.
The stretch of highway is the most shovel-ready according to Jeff Gander, the Improve I-70 Central Project Director.
“We've done a lot of work for the 63 Interchange, preliminary work for that, as well as the 54 interchange and the 20 miles in between those two is relatively rural,” Gander said. “So if we had one of these projects that we could move quickly on, this was the one.”
The first section will not go through Columbia, but involves redoing the I-70 and Highway 63 interchange. Redoing that intersection is a part of the plan.
The price tag on the segment is $420 million.
The project is slated to begin as soon as late spring. Currently, the end date is Dec. 31, 2027.
Speaking just before the recommendation was approved, Commissioner and former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said this marked the beginning of a generational opportunity.
“I have a high level of confidence based on the professionalism in this room that this is going to be not only exciting, but also very productive and positive program in the state of Missouri,” Slay said.
The project proposal includes a series of roundabouts that would help traffic congestion in the I-70 Highway 63 Interchange. It also includes new pavement for the entire highway.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) director Patrick McKenna said the new pavement and the innovation of the design were reasons why Milestone Weber was chosen.
“Those were incredibly important aspects for the long life and duration for the traveling public. That will minimize the maintenance demands in the next 10 to 15 years significantly,” McKenna said.
Two lanes of traffic in each direction arte expected to be open during construction.
“It is that important of a corridor to keep and maintain traffic volumes. The notion of everything having to be diverted is just simply not the case,” McKenna said.
Eric Kopinski, director of MODOT’s Improve I-70 program, said there will be public meetings later this spring in both Columbia and Kingdom City where a more specific schedule will be discussed.
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Source: NPR
