COLUMBIA — State and local leaders gathered Thursday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony for the portion of Interstate 70 from Rocheport to Columbia as a part of the statewide Improve I-70 Program.
This portion of construction will be a $441 million design-build project that will add a third lane in both directions along a 14-mile stretch of I-70. This will take place between the Missouri River bridge at Rocheport and U.S. 63 in Columbia, and it will also include additional roadway improvements along the corridor.
Vice Chair of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Dustin Boatwright believes improvements like these will pioneer the future.
"We need to continue to think big. We need to continue to drive innovation and continue to invest in our infrastructure here in Missouri," Boatwright said. "We have to continue to plant trees that we'll never see the shade of, and if we do that as a state, if we do that as a country, we'll win."
The improvements will include a third lane in each direction of I-70 with all new 11-inch full-depth concrete pavement. There will also be improvements to the I-70 interchanges/intersections at Route J/O, Midway (U.S. 40), Stadium Boulevard, Business Loop 70, Providence Road, Range Line Street, and U.S. 63.
Fourteen new bridge structures and new north and south outer road connections across Perche Creek will be included.
The project was awarded in December 2025 to contractor Emery Sapp and Sons and designer Parsons, and it is the fourth project to be awarded as part of the statewide Improve I-70 Program. Josh Doerhoff is the company's executive vice president of operations. He wants to remind drivers his workers drive the project and their safety is paramount.
"Please remember when you're driving through every work zone on I-70 that there's a son or a daughter that just can't wait for them to get home and greet them with a smile," Doerhoff said. "And if we don't deliver on that commitment, we didn't succeed."
Construction is expected to last through late 2029.
The larger Improve I-70 program is backed by $2.8 billion in state general revenue approved in Missouri’s fiscal year 2024 budget. The statewide effort also aims to add a third lane in each direction along nearly 200 miles of I-70 between Blue Springs and Wentzville by the end of 2030.
