Interstates
Interstate 44 begins in St. Louis, MO and travels through Springfield and Joplin, MO, Tulsa, OK, Oklahoma City, OK and ends in Wichita Falls, TX. I-44 trverses the northrn section of the city of Springfield and currently has only four lanes. State plans to increase that number to six have been put on hold.
Within Springfield, I-44 interchanges with (in order from the east): MO 244 (Kearney St.), U.S. 65 (Schoolcraft Freeway), Business Route 65 (Glenstone Ave.), MO 13 (Kansas Expressway), U.S. 160 (West Bypass), MO 266 (Chestnut Expressway). Currently, MO 360 (James River Freeway) is being constructed to tie into I-44 just west of Springfield.
U.S. Highways
U.S. 65 is a north-south highway which runs from Albert Lea, MN, through Springfield to Natchez, MS.
Within Springfield, U.S. 65 (Schoolcraft Freeway) is a busy four-lane freeway that connects I-44 on the north side with U.S. 60 on the south side. U.S. 65 begins it's four-lane status one mile north of the I-44 interchange and continues as a four-lane freeway down the east side of Springfield to just south of Ozark, where construction crews are busy blasting through the Ozark Hills to 4-lane the highway to Branson, which is 35 miles south of Springfield. Plans call for the project to be completed by 2002. When completed, the freeway-standard highway will provide a vital and much-needed corridor for the high volume of traffic between Springfield and Branson.
Other U.S. 65 projects currently underway include the total recosntruction of the Rt. D (Sunshine St.) interchange. This project will include six-laning a segment of the freeway, rebuilding and raising the freeway overpass and rebuilding the on/off ramps to accomodate the high volumes of traffic which utilize the exit each day. Project is set to be completed by 2001.
Other 65 improvements for the near future call for total re-construction of the current clover-leaf interchanges with I-44 and U.S. 60 into stacked free-flow interchanges. Projects on a 10-year plan call for four-laning the highway north out of Springfield to Buffalo and eventually Warsaw.
U.S. 60 is a east-west highway which runs from Virginia Beach, VA, through Springfield to Qurtzsite, AZ (I-10).
Within Springfield, U.S. 60 follows the James River Freeway corridor, andruns along the south edge of town, connecting U.S. 65 with MO 413 (Sunshine St.). U.S. 60 and MO 13 enter Springfield from the southwest along the route that becomes Sunshine St. in Springfield. Upon arrivng at the current western-most interchange with the JR Freeway, 60 and 13 follow the route of freeway corridor eastward, while MO 413 continues northeast into Springfield along Sunshine St. corridor. However, until the time the freeway was completed in 1996, U.S. 60 continued northeasterly on the Sunshine St. corridor into Springfield. 60 has followed it's current path since that time (13 remained on the original path along Sunshine until April of 2000, when it too was routed along with 60 onto the JR Freeway).
When the James River Freeway is completed from it's current 60/13/413 end-point/junction, to I-44 in 2003, the newer segment will become MO 360.
U.S. 60's freeway-status technically ends at the Glenstone Ave. interchange and is an expressway from that point eastward to U.S. 65 and beyond. This is due to the fact that the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway's James River Power Plant line crosses the highway at grade, just west of the 65 interchange! Two to three times per week, long, slow coal trains block the crossing as they operate to the power plant and back again. This haphazard bottleneck is a headache for motorists that will fortunatley be eliminated with the 65-60 interchange re-construction in few years. Until then, no freeway-status and lot's of traffic jams!
The James River Freeway Corridor is a four-lane freeway which, when fully completed in 2003, will connect Interstate 44 on the west, with U.S. 65 on the east. Construction began on the corridor in th mid-80's, with the first segment opening from U.S. 65 to Campbell. The second segment (Campbell to Kansas Expwy.) opened in the early 90's, and the most recent segment to open (Kansas Expwy. to Sunshine St.) opened in 1996. The next segment (Sunshine to I-44) is set for opening in 2002 or 2003. A northern extension from I-44 to the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport and U.S. 160 is still in the planning stages. It is probable that the corridor may someday become a link in the federal interstate system.
Currently, the corridor runs from the Sunshine St. (U.S. 60/MO 13 and MO 413) junction southwest of Springfield to the Schoolcraft Freeway (U.S. 65). Highways which follow the corridor include U.S. 60, from Sunshine St. to U.S. 65 and beyond, MO 13, from Sunshine St. to Kansas Expressway, Business Route 65, from U.S. 65 to Glenstone Ave., U.S. 160, from West Bypass to Campbell Ave., and MO 360, from Sunshine St. to I-44 (under construction)
U.S. 160 is a east-west highway which runs from Poplar Bluff, MO, through Springfield to Tuba City, AZ.
Within Springfield, U.S. 160 follows the West Bypass Corridor, which extends from I-44 on the north, southward down the western edge of the city to the James River Freeway on the south. U.S. 160 then follows the James River Freeway eastward from West Bypass to the Campbell Ave. interchange. The highway then follows Campbell south out of the city.
Through most Springfield, West Bypass/U.S 160 is an expressway-standard (50 m.p.h.) four-lane highway. The City of Springfield has been busy upgrading this road from two to four lanes for the past five years, and is nearly complete. However, from Keaarney St. (MO 744) to Chestnut Expressway (MO 266), the highway is still 2 lanes. Construction on this segment will begin in the summer of 2000, and will be the most expensive, as it nessesitates the complete removal of two abandoned railroad overpasses, plus the demolition and re-construction of third to accomodate three busy mainline tracks of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway. This segment should be opened by the summer of 2001. The Chestnut Expressway-Sunshine St. expansion was completed in 1997, and the Sunshine-James River Freeway extension, (which required a brand new right-of-way, as West Bypass had previously terminated at Sunshine St.) was opened in April of 2000. When fully completed, West Bypass is expected to handle over 11,000 vehicles per day.
Prior to the completion of the Bypass to the James River Freeway in 2000, U.S. 160 followed Sunshine (along with MO 13) from the Bypass to Kansas Expwy. It then followed Kansas south to the James River Freeway to Campbell. The new alignment is more of a straight path and much easier for motorists!
Northward out of Springfield, U.S. 160 is a two-lane, expressway-standard highway with a speed limit of 60 m.p.h. The current alignment from I-44 northward was completed in 1981. Prior to that, U.S. 160 followed what is now MO 744 (Kearney St.) from West Bypass westward towards the airport.
State Highways
Missouri Route 13 is a north-south highway which runs from Kansas City (MO 7 from KC-Clinton) to Springfield and southward. Through Springfield, MO 13 follows Kansas Expressway (four-lane expressway standards) and the James River Freeway. Until April of 2000, MO 13 followed Kansas Expressway south to Sunshine, and then followed Sunshine St. west out of town. However, MO 13 was re-routed south to the James River Freeway over the southern half of Kansas Expressway when this segment (of Kansas Expwy.) lost it's federal number (160) when it was re-assigned to the new West Bypass.
South from the James River Freeway corridor, 13 joins U.S. 60 through Republic to Billings, where it breaks off and becomes a secondary two-lane highway. North of Springfield, the highway is a four-lane divided expressway until Brighton, where the two northbound lanes leave the four-lane right-of-way and follow the original 13 highway alignment through hills, curves and small roadside communities. The two southbound lanes remain expressway-standard. Within the next few years, new northbound lanes will be added to the existing southbound lanes as part of the Kansas City to Springfield corridor project.
The State of Missouri is currently working on completion of a four-lane corridor from Springfield to Clinton (13) and from Clinton to Kansas City (7). While most of the corridor is completed from KC to Clinton, and from Springfield to Bolivar, the middle section is still under construction or in the planning stages. The segment form Clinton to Lowry City is expected to open by 2001, with Lowry City-Bolivar open by 2008.
Until April of 2000, MO 13 followed Kansas Expwy. south to Sunshine St., and then followed Sunshine St. west out of town. However, MO 13 was re-routed south to the James River Freeway over the southern half of Kansas Expressway when this segment (of Kansas Expwy.) lost it's federal number (160) which it was re-assigned to the new West Bypass. However, rerouting both U.S. 160 and MO 13 would have left Sunshine St. corridor without a number. Therefore, the State of Missouri commisioned MO 413 to follow the original path of MO 13, from Kansas Expwy. to the James River Frwy. In essence, the new MO 413 makes a complete loop from these two points; it begins at MO 13 (James River Frwy.) and ends several miles later at MO 13 (Kansas Expwy.).
Missouri Route 266 follows the original route of old U.S. 66. from I-44 west to Halltown, MO. While MO 266 ends/begins at I-44, the route becomes four-laned Loop 44/Chesnut Expressway from the interstate into downtown. While Loop 44 follows Glenstone Ave. back north to the interstate, Chestnut Expressway continues as BUS Loop 65 from the Glenstone intersecion to the U.S. 65/Schoolcraft Freeway interchange.
Much of present-day Chestnut Expressway was built after U.S. 66 was decommisioned, therefore, much of the old "mother road" followed what is now College St. and St. Louis St. through downtown.
MO 744 runs from it's I-44 diamond interchange (just east of town), along Kearney St. to the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport, west of the city. The east-west highway is four-laned for most of it's route through the city. Major intersection include U.S. 65, Glenstone Ave., Kansas Expwy.( MO 13), and West Bypass (US 160).
MO 744/Kearney St. actually meets I-44 for a second time on the west side of the city, however, the only access between the two highways is a ramp for airport travelers from 744 to I-44 South. The I-44/U.S. 160 diamond interchange is located nearby and offers motorists full interchange capabilities. East of the city, MO 744 runs along part of the original U.S. 66 alignment.
Supplemental (County) Highways