Officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation say that the finishing touches, including changing all at-grade crossings to overpasses, will be complete by early November, and will be a big step forward in creating an all-interstate connection between Kansas City and New Orleans.
The interstate designation is expected to be an economic boon in Missouri, especially near the intermodal freight facility at the former Richards-Gebauer Air Force Base in south Kansas City.
The nearly $64 million project will end at Pineville, Missouri – just north of the Arkansas border. According to the Kansas City Star, officials in Arkansas are struggling to find funds to complete the interstate through a 180-mile stretch of the Ouachita Mountains.
The cost of completing the project in Arkansas – and thus completing an uninterrupted interstate path from New Orleans to the Canadian border via I-29 – is estimated at $3 billion dollars, the Star reports.
Not including local interstates 435, 635 and 470, the completion of I-49 will give the metro area four major interstate routes with I-70, I-35 and I-29.
Editor's note- Many of us are wondering how long (possibly years) will we continue to inadvertently refer to it as 71 highway..?
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