Kansas City, Missouri – As contractors continue work on the Improve I-70 KC project, drivers on the eastern side of downtown Kansas City will have to deal with temporary traffic disruptions on Interstate 70.
On Tuesday, March 10, the Missouri Department of Transportation will close several lanes for a brief time, which will impede traffic going both east and west along the busy corridor.
The first closure will happen in the early morning. Starting at around 4 a.m. and lasting until about 7 a.m., the right lane of eastbound I-70 between 25th Street and Cleveland Avenue will be closed.
Later in the morning, more work will need to close the center lane of westbound I-70 between Van Brunt Boulevard and Jackson Avenue. The closure should happen sometime between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. These interim limits are in addition to a longer-term closure that is already in place along the route.
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Bridge work is still going on, thus the left lane of I-70 is still closed in both directions between 25th Street and the U.S. 40/31st Street intersection. Transportation officials said that all building dates depend on the weather and may vary if they need to.
The lane closures are part of the larger Improve I-70 KC project, which is a major infrastructure project that focuses on a five-mile stretch of Interstate 70 from The Paseo Boulevard to U.S. 40/31st Street. This part of the highway was built in the early 1960s and today carries up to 120,000 vehicles every day. It has long been seen as an important but aging transportation route through Kansas City.
The $237 million project is meant to modernize the corridor and make traffic flow better, according to state transportation officials. Plans are for fixing or replacing 26 bridges and making 12 interchanges better or building them from scratch. The modifications are meant to reduce traffic during busy periods, make the route safer, and make important structures along the route last longer.
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The project will take several years to finish, with construction starting in the spring of 2025 and finishing by December 2028.
Drivers who are going through work zones should stay vigilant and slow down. Officials stress that work areas can change, and that sometimes operations need to be moved or closed for a short time to finish repairs and maintenance.
