MO House speaker taking wait and see approach on competing I-70 expansion proposals

The Missouri House and Senate could go head-to-head on two different proposed plans intended to widen Interstate-70.

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants to spend 2.8-billion-dollars to widen the roadway to at least three lanes in both directions from Blue Springs near Kansas City to Wentzville near St. Louis. 

The House backs the governor’s request to designate 859-million-dollars to expand the interstate to three lanes in both directions around St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia. 

House Speaker Dean Plocher wants to take a wait and see approach on which direction to go…

“The product that comes back from the Senate then we can, I guess better assess because just because it came out of a committee does not mean that that’s the form that it’s going to take. But I would roughly say that the house is adamantly in support of greater transparency on how MODOT manages money, a lot of money and the taxpayers need some accountability,” says Plocher.

Plocher wants the Senate to consider the House’s proposed ballot measure that would put the Missouri Legislature in charge of MoDOT’s funding.