MO 79

[CapeCodder]

What was the ultimate plan for Missouri Route 79? before it ends at 70 it's an expressway that extends for about four and a half miles before coming to the interstate. What was the reasoning behind this?

[sparker]

Drove on MO 79 about 25 or so years ago; got roped into ferrying a mini-van full of relatives up to Hannibal to the Twain museum.  Since I wanted a road that essentially tracked the BNSF line up the river (and its monstrous coal trains to ESL), took 79, not knowing what to expect (pre-GSV!).  From I-70 up to Winfield, it started out as a 4-lane divided expressway, but shrunk to something resembling a CA-style 2-lane expressway -- but with more than a few private access points.  North of there to Louisiana it was more of a conventional but fast 2-lane road, but past that it sort of twisted all over the place (not much parallel RR running, to my consternation).  After visiting the museum, I just headed over to US 61 and took that back to our Webster Groves starting point.  Overall I got the impression that MO 79 was intended to function as an exurban arterial/partial expressway out as far as the MO 47 junction, but that expected development never occurred, so its original 2-lane configuration past the divided portion north of I-70 hasn't been expanded.  Its role is as it always has been -- an alternate from metro StL to Hannibal but skirting the river.