YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Meeting in Springfield today, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission voted to select a design-build contractor for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s next project in the Forward 44 Program of improvements to Interstate 44.
The team consists of contractor Capital Paving and Construction LLC with designer Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.
In a news release, officials said the winning team is known as The Capital-CMT Team for the design-build project. Design-build is a project delivery method that combines both the design and construction phases into one contract.
The winning proposal was selected from a field of four teams, according to the release, prioritizing projects at five locations across the region from the Jasper County city of Fidelity to Laclede County. Negotiations to finalize the contract are currently in progress, officials said in the release.
Commission Chair Warren Erdman credited the leadership of Springfield state Sen. Lincoln Hough in pushing through both the Forward 44 project and another state project, Improve I-70, which increases capacity of the east-west interstate that passes through Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.
“Senator Hough is primarily responsible for this project, and he has shown incredible generational leadership during his time in the Missouri Senate,” he said.
The winning bidders hailed the commission’s decision.
“We are honored by MoDOT’s trust in The Capital-CMT Team and excited for the opportunity to help deliver this transformational investment along the I-44 corridor,” said Kevin Peart, chief operating officer of Capital Paving and Construction. “We look forward to partnering with MoDOT, local communities and project stakeholders to deliver a safer, more resilient corridor that strengthens connectivity and serves the region for decades to come.”
According to MoDOT officials, the Southwest I-44 Improvements project is a $471 million project in the Forward 44 Program that prioritizes five key locations where improvements to I-44 are planned. They comprise the following:
Construction is scheduled to begin later this summer with an anticipated completion by November 2031, according to the release.
Missouri lawmakers voted to provide $20 million in general revenue from the fiscal 2024 state budget for an I-44 environmental study from the Oklahoma state line to Route 100 in Franklin County, which was completed in May 2025, according to the release.
For fiscal 2025, lawmakers approved $577.5 million for corridor improvements along I-44, officials said in the release. The Southwest Improvements Project includes $328 million in state general revenue and $143 million in funding from Missouri’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
A trio of brothers own Southway Storage LLC, which opened Oct. 7 and has 289 units to serve customers in Ozark, Nixa, Springfield and elsewhere in southwest Missouri.