Rahn discusses interstate improvements

The comment surprised Pete Rahn, MoDOT’s director. Rahn thanked the man and asked him which project he was talking about. The jokester told Rahn that construction this summer turned Interstate 44 back into Route 66.

“You’ve turned a four-lane road into a two-lane road with 35 mph traffic,” the man said.

Rahn delivered the anecdote during a meeting Thursday afternoon at the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. Rahn spent the day in the Joplin area visiting with MoDOT District 7 employees, the Joplin Noon Rotary Club and local government and business leaders in Joplin and Webb City.

“I’m very much aware that transportation is a hot topic for the state, especially in the Joplin regional area,” Rahn said.

Rahn gave the groups updates on current construction projects and discussed his vision for the future of transportation in Missouri.

The Missouri portion of U.S. Highway 71 south of Joplin will be complete by fall 2007, Rahn said. Highway 249, the Range Line Road bypass, will be finished by fall 2008, he said.

The projects are part of the effort to upgrade Highway 71 to Interstate 49. Rahn said the final section of the project to be constructed is the Bella Vista bypass in Arkansas. He said officials in that state plan to build the bypass as a toll road.

The new interstate will link Joplin and Interstate 44 with Interstate 40 near Fort Smith, Ark. He said scheduled studies will determine the cost of extending I-49 to Kansas City.

The highway would accelerate commerce in the area, Rahn said.

“It is going to put you on the crossroads of an interstate system,” he said.

Rahn also discussed the ongoing overlay project and other current work on I-44. He said that median cable barriers will be installed from the Oklahoma border to Highway 360, the James River Freeway, and will be complete by Dec. 15.

I-70, connecting St. Louis and Kansas City, and I-44 will need to be rebuilt in the future, Rahn said. He said that would be the appropriate time to add additional lanes to separate vehicle and commercial truck traffic.