A powerful Missouri state lawmaker describes the $2.8 billion plan to rebuild and expand I-70 to six lanes across the state as the biggest boondoggle in Missouri history.
House Transportation Accountability chairman Don Mayhew (R-Crocker) joined us live on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” to explain why he’s filed a one-page bill to change the name of I-70 in Missouri to I-44 and the name of I-44 in Missouri to I-70.
“I can’t find a single, going through MoDOT’s studies and reports and everything going back a few years, I can’t find a single engineering reason why you would choose I-70 for three-laning in each direction instead of, let’s say, I-44,” Mayhew says.
Mayhew tells listeners that I-44 in his district should be six-laned. Representative Mayhew, a former MoDOT engineer, says I-44 in his district and across the state has much more truck traffic than I-70.
“If you just look at freight tonnage alone, MoDOT’s own studies said that there’s about nine times the freight tonnage that travels on I-44. And in fact there’s four routes in Missouri that carry more freight tonnage that I-70 does,” says Mayhew.
You can listen to the full interview with Chairman Mayhew here, and you can also weigh in on the issue on the 939 the Eagle Facebook page.
