The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission (MHTC) approved the Fiscal Year 2027-2031 (FY27-31) Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) on July 1, committing about $79.4 million in federal and state funds to widen Interstate 49 (I-49) in Cass County. The project also includes rehabilitating two bridges at 163rd Street.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) will oversee projects from the STIP and plans to solicit bids for the I-49 project in November 2027. Construction is slated to begin in spring 2028, according to the agency.
The widening is the largest of three projects, spanning multiple counties, that MoDOT plans to solicit in combination. This means the agency would advertise the three together rather than bid each separately.
The main project along I-49 stretches 3.39 miles. According to the STIP, crews would rebuild the pavement, add a lane, widen the shoulders and replace roadside barriers along the interstate between a point south of Highway 58 in Belton and a point north of 155th Street.
MoDOT puts the estimated total for the project at $82.71 million. That figure runs slightly higher than the $79.4 million the commission approved this month because it folds in $3.3 million in engineering work that earlier plans had already accounted for.
The remaining money spans two budget years. About $1.4 million is set aside in FY27 to acquire land along the corridor, with about $70 million reserved for construction the following year. MoDOT expects to cover most of the cost through the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP), a federal funding source for major highways.
The other two projects in the bundle sit along the same stretch of highway. The larger of them, listed in the STIP under Jackson County, would replace the I-49 bridge over the Little Blue River just north of 155th Street. The STIP also notes the addition of auxiliary lanes to that stretch of road. MoDOT estimates that work at $26.45 million, with most of that figure set aside for construction.
The third project covers interchange and roadway improvements where I-49 meets Highway 58 in Belton. MoDOT has not yet published a cost estimate for the work in the approved plan. An amendment to an earlier version of the STIP, issued in 2024, set aside $20 million for construction and scheduled the work for FY28.
MoDOT’s project page also lists a full bridge replacement where I-49 meets Highway 58, though it is not clear which of the projects would carry that work. A cost breakdown for the bridge is not yet available.
The agency has not determined the full traffic impacts of the corridor work, though it expects lane closures and detours once construction begins. MoDOT held a public meeting on the project in Belton in October 2025 and collected comments through the middle of that month.
The Cass County work is one piece of a much larger commitment from the state. The FY27-31 STIP makes about $13 billion in federal and state revenue available across all modes of transportation, including $9.3 billion in contractor awards for road and bridge construction. MoDOT released a draft in May and took 65 public comments before the commission signed off.
Photo by David McElwee from Pexels
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