If they ever upgrade U.S. 36 to I-72 in Missouri, then it needs to end at I-29, not I-35. That way, St. Joseph will be served by two Interstates.
One thing that needs to be done regardless is for the highway to be graded properly, especially in Linn County. Linn County widened U.S. 36 before anyplace else in northern Missouri, but all they did was build a new set of lanes alongside the original alignment, so they ended up with the new set of lanes being properly graded and relatively flat while the original alignment followed the lay of the land. The most glaring example of this is between Marceline and the Macon County line, where the westbound lanes are nice and flat, but the eastbound lanes are a roller coaster. There's a similar effect on U.S. 63 in Macon County between Macon and the Randolph County line, though the lay of the land there isn't quite as dissected as it is in eastern Linn County.
Basically, MoDOT needs to eliminate the roller coaster rides on some of their four-lane highways.
That's the classic "Missouri Expressway".
Or Virginia Twinning, as it is also known.
Alabama also did that along US 72 between Scottsboro and Stevenson. And Mississippi did it along US 72 between Corinth and Burnsville.
WisDOT did that on a lengthy part of WI 57 south of Plymouth, WI back in the 1950s or 1960s. They have since rebuilt the highway's original northbound side to match the newer, much flatter southbound side (done during the late 1990s or early 2000s). One can also notice that effect, but to a much more subtle extent, on US(I)-41 in the area just south of WI 28.
As for the here and there upgrades of US 71 (now I-49), that is an 'S.O.P.' thing with WisDOT (see US(I)-41, WI 29, etc). US 41 (south of about Neenah to metro Milwaukee, especially) was built on its existing grade as a two-lane rural highway in the late 1940s and has been steadily upgraded to now full interstate standards ever since.
Mike
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Topic: Future of I-72 in Missouri? (Read 79344 times)