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Millstone Weber of St. Charles, Missouri, has taken the opportunity to extend a 20-mile stretch I-70 between Columbia and Kingdom City in Missouri, part of a vital but ancient transportation corridor. Contractor Jacobs, based in Dallas, Texas, was selected to perform the design work.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded the Millstone Weber-Jacobs team the first contract in its $2.8 billion, 200-mile, six-phase total. Improvement of the I-70 program, which runs from Blue Springs to Wentzville. The firms beat out another design team, the Missouri DOT said in a Feb. 14 statement, and the final fixed-cost design contract is now being negotiated.
“Today’s contractor selection marks the beginning of this generational opportunity to improve I-70, which serves as a critical east-west economic corridor through Missouri,” said MHTC President Terry Ecker in the communicated MHTC is the board that governs Missouri DOT.
Many parts of I-70 are currently strained beyond capacity and interchange designs are outdated, according to Missouri DOT. Work begins on this stretch of motorway because it’s the most shovel-ready, Jeff Gander, the central director of the Improve I-70 project, told KCUR, a local Kansas City-based NPR affiliate.
This first phase of Improve I-70 will repave the old lanes and build a third lane in each direction between US 63 in Columbia and US 54 in Kingdom City, build two new bridges and four new roundabouts and redo the interchanges.
Millstone Weber is a full-service heavy civil construction company in the transportation industry, including the rail and transit, highway, bridge and aviation sectors. The company is currently constructing the I-270 North project in North St. Louis, Missouri, and worked on the Denver International Airport lobby expansion.
The project is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed by the end of 2027. Additional renderings and final plans will be released at public meetings sometime this spring, according to the release.
