Interstate 49 in Missouri

Interstate 49
Route information
Maintained by MoDOT
Length:	178.717 mi[1] (287.617 km)
Existed:	December 12, 2012 – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 71 in Pineville
	US 60 in Neosho I-44 in Joplin US 160 in Lamar US 54 in Nevada
North end:	I-435 / I-470 / US 50 / US 71 in Kansas City
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Missouri State Highway System Interstate US State Supplemental ← Route 48 Route 49 →

Interstate 49 (I-49) is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Missouri that was designated on December 12, 2012. It overlaps U.S. Route 71 (US 71) in the western part of the state, beginning at Pineville, just a few miles north of the Arkansas state line, and ending at I-435 and I-470 on the southeast side of Kansas City.

I-49 is planned to extend south into Arkansas upon completion of a bypass of Bella Vista, Arkansas, connecting to the new northern Arkansas segment of I-49 (formerly part of I-540 to Fort Smith). Upon completion, the highway will connect with I-49 in Louisiana, connecting Kansas City to Texarkana, Shreveport, and Lafayette, Louisiana.

Route description

I-49 begins in Pineville. It passes through many smaller communities before reaching Joplin. In Joplin, I-49 junctions with I-44 and begins a short overlap with I-44 for exits 11 through 18.

Just a few miles east of Joplin, I-49 leaves I-44 and heads north and enters Carthage. I-49 then passes through Nevada and other communities before reaching the Kansas City area. I-49 intersects with I-435 which provides connection to I-35 and I-29.

In south Kansas City, at Bannister Road just north of the Grandview Triangle, the I-49 designation ends, and the expressway continues as US 71, which proceeds into downtown Kansas City as Bruce R. Watkins Memorial Drive.

History

Current southern terminus of I-49. The closed ramp will serve as the northern end of the Bella Vista Bypass upon completion.

Arkansas and Missouri pursued an I-49 designation for US 71 and I-540 for a number of years. In the early 2000s, there were plans by both states to rename the roadway as such between I-44 west of Joplin and I-40 at Fort Smith once new roadway had been completed around Bella Vista, Arkansas, and north to Pineville, Missouri.^[2] However, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering denied the I-49 designation at their annual meeting in September 2007 because none of the new roadway was under construction.^[3]

The I-49 upgrade involved removing all at-grade intersections and constructing interchanges and overpasses at 15 sites between Harrisonville and Lamar. The two-year project represented a shift in funding priorities for MoDOT which in 2007, had announced the indefinite postponement of its portion of the Bella Vista bypass project, citing a $139-million funding gap in Arkansas between construction costs and toll revenues, and Arkansas' commitment to only a two-lane bypass constructed over six years.^[4] MoDOT announced the Joplin-to-Kansas City upgrade of US 71 in August 2010, to be done with the intention of bringing the I-49 designation to Missouri.^[5]

MoDOT began installing I-49 trailblazer signage (without shields) plus gantry signs and mile markers, about 1200 signs in all, in February 2012. Signage bearing I-49 shields were covered or turned from view until the I-49 designation was given final approval by the Federal Highway Administration. This includes mile markers at 0.2-mile (0.32 km) intervals along the entire alignment apart from I-44.^[6]

The I-49 designation in Missouri became official at noon on December 12, 2012.^[7] The designation applies to 180 miles (290 km) of current US 71 between Bannister Road (Route W) in south Kansas City and Route H at Pineville (McDonald County) which was upgraded to Interstate standards beginning in 2010.^[5] The last of the upgrade projects were completed in December 2012, but some designations about seven miles (11 km) north of the Arkansas state line still have not been built to meet interstate standards.

Future

In 2012, Missouri had $40 million available for its portion of the Bella Vista bypass,^[8] but moved the money elsewhere in 2013. They planned on using money from a proposed constitutional amendment which would have raised the sales tax, however this was defeated by voters in August 2014. The Bella Vista Bypass is now on an indefinite hold. Arkansas has announced it will not extend its section to Missouri until construction begins on the Missouri section.^[9]

Exit list

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Exit[1]	Destinations	Notes
McDonald	​				I-49 south	Arkansas state line (proposed connection)
	​			2	Route 90	Proposed
	​			4	US 71 south – Bella Vista, Fort Smith	Temporary southern end; southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Pineville	0.724	1.165	5	Route H – Pineville, Noel
	​	2.558	4.117	7	Route EE – Pineville, Lanagan
	​	5.690	9.157	10	Route 76 – Anderson
	​	10.770	17.333	15	US 71 Bus. south / Route 59 – Goodman, Anderson	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	​	11.954	19.238	17	Route B / Route C – Goodman
Newton	​	15.486	24.922	20	Business Loop I-49 north / Route AA
	Neosho	19.042	30.645	24	US 60 – Seneca, Neosho
		22.058	35.499	27	Business Loop I-49 south / Route 86 – Racine, Neosho
	​	25.052	40.317	30	Iris Road
	​	28.059	45.157	33	Business Loop I-49 north / Route 175 (Gateway Drive)
	​	30.080	48.409	35	Route V – Diamond
Newton–Jasper county line	​	34.089	54.861	39A	Route FF (32nd Street)
Jasper	​	34.238	55.101	39B–C	I-44 west / Route 249 north to Route 66 – Joplin, Tulsa	Southern end of I-44 overlap; signed as exits 39B (Route 249 north) and 39C (I-44 west); I-49 south follows exit 11
	​			12	Prigmor Road (County Road 190) –Joplin	Opened November 2015
	​	38.061	61.253	15	Business Loop I-44 west / Route 66 – Duenweg, Joplin	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Fidelity	41.054	66.070	46	I-44 east / Route 59 south – Springfield, Diamond	Northern end of I-44 overlap; signed as exits 46A (Route 59 south) and 46B (I-44 east); I-49 north follows exit 18B
		42.386	68.214	47	Cedar Road
	Carthage	44.887	72.239	49	Route 571 north (Garrison Avenue)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		45.682	73.518	50	Route HH (Fir Road) – Carterville
		46.807	75.329	51	Fairview Avenue
		48.511	78.071	53	Business Loop I-49 south / Route 96 / Route 171 north / Route 571 south (Central Avenue) – Webb City
		50.580	81.401	55	Civil War Road
	​	51.656	83.132	56	Route V (Garrison Avenue) / Route D – Alba	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	​	58.050	93.422	63	Route M / Route N
	Jasper	61.252	98.576	66	Route H / Route K – Jasper
Barton	​	65.425	105.291	70	Route 126 – Pittsburg, Golden City
	​			74	30th Road	Opened November 2013
	Lamar	72.006	115.882	77	US 160 – Mindenmines, Lamar
	​	75.538	121.567	80	Route DD / Route EE
	​	78.554	126.420	83	Route V / Route C – Irwin
Vernon	​	83.777	134.826	88	Route N / Route B – Bronaugh, Sheldon
	​	86.800	139.691	91	Route BB / Route DD – Bellamy
	​	90.785	146.104	95	Route E – Milo
	Nevada	96.121	154.692	101	Business Loop I-49 north / Route K to US 54 west – Nevada, Camp Clark
		97.218	156.457	102A	US 54 – Nevada, El Dorado Springs	Signed as exit 102 northbound
				102B	Business Loop I-49 south – Nevada	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		98.522	158.556	103	Highland Avenue
	​	101.998	164.150	107	Route M – Compton Junction
	​	105.330	169.512	110	Route D – Stotesbury
	​	107.086	172.338	112	Horton
	​	111.305	179.128	116	Route TT
Bates	Rich Hill	115.709	186.216	120	Route A / Route B – Rich Hill, Osceola
	​	124.273	199.998	129	Route 52 east – Appleton City	Southern end of Route 52 overlap
	​	125.529	202.019	130	Business Loop I-49 north – Butler	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Butler	126.887	204.205	131	Route 52 west – Butler, Amoret	Northern end of Route 52 overlap
	​	131.583	211.762	136	Business Loop I-49 south / Route F / Route D – Passaic, Butler
	Adrian	136.630	219.885	141	Route 18 – Adrian, Clinton
	​	139.151	223.942	144	Route AA / Route E
Cass	Archie	142.523	229.369	147	Route A / Route B – Archie, Drexel
	​	148.204	238.511	153	307th Street
	Harrisonville	152.189	244.924	157	Route 7 south – Clinton	Southern end of Route 7 overlap
		152.358	245.196	158	Route 2 east (Commercial Street)	Southern end of Route 2 overlap
		154.922	249.323	159	Route 2 west / Route 7 north (Mechanic Street)	Northern end of Route 2 / Route 7 overlap
		155.478	250.218	160	Route 291 north – Lee's Summit, Harrisonville	Opened in 2016;existing diamond interchange converted to a Diverging diamond interchange
	Peculiar	162.219	261.066	167	Route C / Route J – Peculiar
				168	211th Street	Diverging diamond interchange opened Tuesday September 13th 2016;[10]
	Raymore	167.211	269.100	172	North Cass Parkway
	Belton			174	Route 58 – Belton, Raymore
		169.162	272.240	175	Route Y / 163rd Street
Cass–Jackson county line	Belton–Grandview city line	171.792	276.472	176	155th Street – Belton
Jackson	Grandview–Kansas City city line	172.774	278.053	177	Route 150	current interchange converted from the existing diamond interchange
	Grandview			178	140th Street
		174.922	281.510	179	Main Street
		175.483	282.413	180	Truman Drive	No direct northbound exit
	Grandview–Kansas City city line	176.260	283.663	181	Blue Ridge Boulevard / Hickman Mills Drive / Longview Road
	Kansas City	177.406	285.507	182	Red Bridge Road / Longview Road
		178.034	286.518	183	I-435 west / I-470 east / US 50 – Wichita, Lee's Summit	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; to I-35
		178.553	287.353	184	I-435 north / US 71 north – Kansas City, Des Moines	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; to I-35 and I-29; national northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Unopened

References

Route map: Bing / Google

1. Missouri Department of Transportation (June 1, 2013). Flex Map Viewer (Map). Missouri Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
2. Kennedy, Wally (May 11, 2007). "Plan holds 2008 finish for Range Line Bypass". The Joplin Globe. Joplin, MO. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
3. Keith, Kevin (September 29, 2007). "Report for SCOH" (PDF) (Report). Milwaukee, WI: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
4. "Missouri Gateway to Bella Vista Bypass Scrapped". Joplin Independent. October 15, 2007.
5. "I-49 Coming to Missouri" (Press release). Missouri Department of Transportation. August 4, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
6. "New I-49 Signs Being Installed Along US 71" (Press release). Missouri Department of Transportation.
7. "US 71 from Kansas City to Joplin to become Interstate 49". Kansas City Star. September 2, 2012.
8. "US 71 Highway to Become I-49 on Wednesday". Kansas City, MO: KMBC-TV. December 11, 2012.
9. McGeeney, Ryan (August 7, 2014). "Bella Vista Bypass on Ice after Missouri Rejects Tax". NWA Online. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
10. https://www.facebook.com/MoDOT.KansasCity/photos/pcb.10154083305568515/10154083302728515/?type=3&theater