The Missouri Department of Transportation hosted a public information meeting about the Improve I-70: Boonville to Rocheport project. Local residents were invited to come and meet with engineers to learn more about the project.
Over a few dozen showed up, and many residents expressed their excitement for the project but hesitancy towards the traffic it will create.
“I think like everyone on (Interstate 70), there’s concern while it’s being done, but after it’s done it will be so much better,” said Jim Gann, a lifelong Boonville resident.
The project will add a third lane in each direction of the 13 miles between Missouri Route 5 in Boonville and the Lance Corporal Leon Deraps I-70 Missouri River (Rocheport) Bridge. Engineers say the new pavement will make it safer for drivers.
“Not only having that third additional lane each direction and a safer corridor, but new pavement we can drive on and a new surface for some of the oldest interstate in the entire country is something we’re really looking forward to,” said Eric Kopinski, MoDOT's statewide director for Improve I-70.
Gann said Boonville’s location on I-70 is a "critical asset that we have to mark it for companies to locate here,” so it is important it stays up to date.
MoDOT expects to award the project to a construction company in February 2026. MoDOT officials say it will go to the lowest bidder. Construction is expected to start shortly afterward and expected to be completed by the end of 2028.
The project is expected to cost between $100 million and $150 million and make a large impact on the local economy.
“We’re projecting there will be about 100 women and men working each day for a two-year period on this 13-mile stretch of Interstate 70,” Kopinski said. “So Boonville to Rocheport. Every day there will be hundreds of local jobs. Good-quality, high-paying jobs.”
Once the construction starts, lanes on I-70 between Rocheport and Boonville will be mostly two side-by-side lanes. There will be one stretch on a curve by the bridge in Rocheport that will be a one lane for a short amount of time, officials said.
MoDOT encourages drivers to be patient with the construction and slow down to protect workers.
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