Commission selects Mid-Missouri contractor for I-70 work from Rocheport to Columbia
Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has chosen a Columbia-based contractor to head up the team designing and building a section of the widened Interstate 70 between Columbia and Rocheport.
The commission awarded Emery Sapp and Sons and Parsons Transportation Group as contractors for a $441 million project to widen and improve I-70 from the Missouri River bridge at Rocheport to the Highway 63 connector in Columbia.
The ESS Team will begin construction at the earliest in the spring and work to put in an extra lane in both directions, according to MoDOT. The project will also update the Missouri River bridge in Rocheport and the interchange in Columbia.
Emery Sapp and Sons Executive Vice President Josh Doerhoff said the complex infrastructure in Columbia is what makes it a multi-billion dollar project.
“The complexity, the added interchanges, the enhancements to all those interchanges come at a dear cost, but we’re returning that at high value and reliability and safety features at each of those locations,” Doerhoff said.
The Columbia to Rocheport project is nearly three times the cost as projects with similar mileages.
The 13-mile-long project is expected to start in the spring and finish in 2029.
The ESS Team and MoDOT said they will keep two lanes open during peak travel times when construction starts.
The commission selected the ESS Team out of two other potential contractors, Ames Millstone Weber Joint Venture and the Lunda Team.
The Lunda Team replaced the I-70 Missouri River bridge near Rocheport in 2021. The Parsons Transportation Group was a part of the 2021 crew and is now working with Emery Sapp and Sons on the 2026 project.
The Rocheport-to-Columbia work is part of a project to widen I-70 from suburban St. Louis to suburban Kansas City.