Eastbound lanes of I-70 between Columbia and Kingdom City to start reopening Friday night
Marie Moyer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Eastbound I-70 drivers will get to explore one of the first developments in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s Improve I-70 Project, with MoDOT set to reopen newly paved lanes and a new third lane.
The renovations were focused on eastbound I-70 between Callaway County Routes J and M and exit 137 near Route J will be reopened.
MoDOT crews will be working overnight Friday into Saturday morning clearing the barriers. The eastbound road is expected to be fully clear Saturday.
“We were thrilled to have this new high-quality pavement that we’re going to open up tomorrow,” Improve I-70 Central Project Director Jeff Gander said during a Thursday press conference.
Drivers heading into Columbia from eastern Missouri should expect upcoming traffic delays later this August as the Missouri Department of Transportation plans to work on the westbound lanes.
Similar to the previous eastbound construction, westbound construction will shift traffic onto the median of I-70 and feature concrete barriers that will narrow lanes to 10 feet and reduce speeds to 55 mph. The traffic shift is expected to start on Aug. 22. Construction is expected to repave the roads and add a third lane.
“We’re adding the third lane in the middle, but we are also completely rebuilding the two outside lanes as well,” Gander said. “When we get done with this stretch, it will it will be six brand new lanes of concrete from one end to the other.”
During construction, there will be no westbound access to or from Exit 137. Alternate routes include, Exit 144, north Outer Road 70 to Route J and the north Outer Road 70 to Exit 133.
Gander added the westbound section of the project will be completed faster than the eastbound section with Missouri expecting drier weather and crews being more comfortable with equipment.
“We had an excessive amount of rain in June and July, that is a little bit abnormal for this area,” Gander said. “It was our new experience, our first experience with some of the paving equipment that we’re using.”
Columbia residents Shahrokh Zadehahmadsabzi and Ryan McKiney both support the addition of the third lane and were not majorly concerned about continued construction.
“I’d like to go to St Louis a good amount of times because I have a lot of friends that I go to SLU or live there over breaks and stuff, I think it’s going to be a lot easier to go there and back,” Zadehahmadsabzi said.
“I’m really frustrated any time I’m on a two-lane highway and it feels like there’s a truck randomly in the left lane and that traffic could be going a whole lot faster and it’s not,” McKiney said. “Adding a third lane, I think it’s better.”
Gander said that the biggest difficulty during construction was high-speed drivers, reporting 20 to 25 crashes at the work site and some cars traveling 70 mph in work zones. He added that MoDOT is also closely working with first responders like the Missouri State Highway Patrol to step up efforts in curbing speeding.
“I’m not going to ask you to do the math, but it’s 90 seconds is the difference, going 70 versus 55 through the six-mile stretch,” Gander said. “For our own safety and for the worker’s safety and for the other drivers on the road, we can all spare that 90 seconds.”
The Improve I-70 Project is expected to be completed at the end of 2027.
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